‘My Grandmother Smokes a Pipe.’
https://doi.org/10.22162/2500-1523-2019-3-479-507
Abstract
In everyday and ceremonial practices of the Kalmyks, tobacco smoking remained widespread till the mid-20th century. The topic has not been scientifically explored, which makes it relevant enough. Goals. So, the work seeks to historically examine the dissemination of tobacco among the Kalmyks, investigate peculiarities of smoking accessories, illustrate some everyday and ceremonial tobacco-related practices, analyze the established ethnic representations dealing with tobacco smoking, requisites and etiquette. Methods. The research employs the synchronous/diachronous, descriptive, comparative/functional, comparative/contrastive, and semantic methods. Results and Conclusions. The paper concludes the Kalmyks became familiar with tobacco in the 16th - early 17th centuries; in everyday and ceremonial practices of Kalmyk society, tobacco smoking was functionally related to folk healing, communicative behavioral, and guest etiquette patterns, serving as a means to unite members of one clan, with its certain ties to the symbol of hearth and cult of ancestors. For the time being, traditional tobacco smoking techniques have passed out of use, which resulted in the loss of respective smoking accessories manufacturing traditions.
Keywords
Supporting agencies: The reported study was funded by government subsidy — project name ‘Socio-Political and Cultural Development of South Russia’s Peoples: a Comprehensive Research of Respective Processes’ (state reg. no. АААА-А19-119011490038-5).
About the Author
Tatyana I. Sharaeva
Kalmyk Scientific Center of the RAS
Russian Federation
Cand. Sc. (History), Senior Research Associate
Russian Federation
Cand. Sc. (History), Senior Research Associate
References
1. [Materials of the Kuma-Manych Research Expedition: Kalmyk Steppe of Astrakhan Governorate]. St. Petersburg: Ministry of State Property of Russian Empire, 1868. 341 p. (In Russ.)
2. [The Kalmyks]. E. P. Bakaeva, N. L. Zhukovskaya (eds.). Moscow: Nauka, 2010. 568 p. (In Russ.)
3. Badmaeva T. B. [Kalmyk Dance and Its Terminology]. Elista: Kalmyk Book Publ., 1992. 96 p. (In Russ.)
4. Batmaev M. M. Crop farming among the Kalmyks: earliest 18th-century experiences (before 1771). In: [Pre-Revolutionary Kalmykia: Issues of Agrarian History]. Elista: Kalmyk Research Institute of History, Philology and Economics, 1982. Pp. 15–26. (In Russ.)
5. Batyreva S. G. [Kalmyk Folk Decorative and Applied Arts: 19th – early 20th Centuries]. Elista: Dzhangar, 2006. 160 p. (In Russ.)
6. Belikova O. B, Zinchenko A. S. 17th-19th-century smoking accessories from the taiga zone of the Chulym River Valley (south of Western Siberia): pipes. Vestnik Arheologii, Antropologii i Etnografii. 2012. No. 2 (17). Pp. 93–105. (In Russ.)
7. Burchinova L. S., Komandzhaev A. N. [From Feudalism to Capitalism: a History of Pre-Revolutionary Kalmykia’s Economic Development]. Elista: Kalmyk Book Publ., 1989. 136 p. (In Russ.)
8. Chyrgalan S. Yu. The Chinese influence on the Tuvinian culture: tobacco smoking and smoking accessories. Manuscript. 2019. Vol. 12. No. 7. pp. 78–82. (In Russ.)
9. Clothes and handicrafts of Astrakhan Kalmyks. In: [1st International Exhibition of Historical and Modern Costumes: Catalogue of the Clothes Department]. Astrakhan, 1902. (In Russ.)
10. Darbakova V. P. Kalmyk national traditions and the shaping of modern customs/rituals in the Kalmyk ASSR. In: [Lamaism in Kalmykia]. Elista: Kalmyk Research Institute of Language, Literature and Histroy, 1977. Pp. 92–100. (In Russ.)
11. Dubrova Ya. P. [Kalmyks of Stavropol Governorate: Everyday Life before the Law of 15 March 1892]. 2nd ed. Elista: Kalmyk Book Publ., 1998. 181 p. (In Russ.)
12. Dushan U. D. [Selected Works]. Elista: Kalmyk Humanities Research Institute of RAS, 2016. 376 p. (In Russ.)
13. Dyakonova V. P. [Tuvan Funeral Rites as a Source for Historical and Ethnographic Research]. Leningrad: Nauka, 1975. 164 p. (In Russ.)
14. Erdniev U. E. History of crop growing among the Kalmyks revisited. In: [(Scholarly) Notes]. Vol. 4. Ser. ‘History’. Elista: Kalmyk Book Publ., 1964. Pp. 47–60. (In Russ.)
15. Erendzhenov K. E. [The Spring of Wisdom]. Elista: Kalmyk Book Publ., 1980. 190 p. (In Russ.)
16. Karagodin A. I. Development of crop farming among the Kalmyks: early-to-mid 19th century. In: [Pre-Revolutionary Kalmykia: Social System and Socio-Political Development]. Elista: Kalmyk Research Institute of History, Philology and Economics, 1983. Pp. 101–121. (In Russ.)
17. Kharinsky A. V. Revisiting the emergence of smoking pipes and tobacco in Cisbaikalia. In: [Baikal Siberia in Ancient Times]. Coll. articles. Irkutsk: IRPU, 1995. Pp. 207–217. (In Russ.)
18. Khlebnikov V. A. About present-day conditions of tobacco growing in the northern part of Maloderbetovsky Ulus, Astrakhan Governorate. In: [Peter the Great Research Society of Astrakhan Governorate: Collected Works]. Astrakhan: Astrakhanskiy Listok, 1892. Pp. 300–315. (In Russ.)
19. Khoninov M. V. Our grandmothers smoke pipes. Teegin gerl. 2008. No. 1. Pp. 44–46. (In Russ.)
20. Lvovsky N. V. Kalmyks of Bolshederbetovsky Ulus (District) and Kalmyk Buddhist temples: origins and history. In: [Scholarly Notes of the Imperial Kazan University]. Kazan: Imperial Kazan University, 1893. 119 p. (In Russ.)
21. Medvedev V. N. Tobacco growing in the Lower Volga German colonies: 18th – 20th cc. In: [The Lower Volga Region: Historical and Ethnocultural Development]. Coll. articles. Volgograd, 2002. Pp. 125–136. (In Russ.)
22. Myatleva E. Yu., Dashibalov B. B. The Chinese influence over the Buryat culture of the XVII – XIX centuries (by way of the smoking pipes ganza illustrations). The Buryat State University Bulletin. 2011. No. 8. Pp. 186–191. (In Russ.)
23. Nebolsin P. I. [Kalmyks of Khosheutovsky Ulus: Sketches of Everyday Life]. St. Petersburg: Karl Kray, 1852. 192 p. (In Russ.)
24. Nefediev N. A. [Detailed Data about the Volga Kalmyks Collected on Site]. St. Petersburg: Karl Kray, 1834. 290 p. (In Russ.)
25. Pallas P. S. [A Journey across Different Provinces of the Russian Empire]. Part 1. St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1773. 657 p. (In Russ.)
26. Palmov N. N. [The Volga Kalmyks: Historical Essays]. Astrakhan: Kalmyk Oblast Executive Committee, 1932. Part 5: ‘Land Affairs’. 185 p. (In Russ.)
27. Pyurbeev G. Ts. [Traditional Household Activities of the Kalmyks: an Explanatory Dictionary]. Elista: Kalmyk Book Publ., 1996. 176 p. (In Kalm. and Russ.)
28. Shapovalov A. V. Tobacco in Western Siberia: 17th – 18th cc. In: [Alien – Strange – Our: Observations of Cultural Interactions]. Novosibirsk: Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, 2000. Pp. 107–121. (In Russ.)
29. Titov A. [Siberia in the 17th Century: Collected Old Russian-Language Articles about Siberia and Adjacent Lands Supplemented with a Picture of an Old Map of Siberia]. Moscow: L. and A. Snegirevy, 1890. 216 p. (In Russ.)
30. Zhitetsky I. A. [Astrakhan Kalmyks: Sketches of Everyday Life (Ethnographic Observations of 1884–1886)]. Moscow: M. G. Volchaninov, 1893. 87 p. (In Russ.)
31. Zhukovskaya N. L. [Nomads of Mongolia: Culture, Traditions, Symbols]. Moscow: Vost. Lit., 2002. 274 p. (In Russ.)
Review
For citations:
Sharaeva T.I. ‘My Grandmother Smokes a Pipe.’. Mongolian Studies. 2019;11(3):479-507. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22162/2500-1523-2019-3-479-507
Views:
671
Email this article 