About Traditional Games, Amusements and Entertainments of the Buryats of the Pre-Baikal Region (using the example of the Alar Buryats)
https://doi.org/10.22162/2500-1523-2025-2-254-274
Abstract
Introduction. The article examines the little-studied leisure culture of the Western Buryats. The territory of their settlement, the Pre-Baikal region, is a cultural and historical region that has its own ethnic history and cultural heritage, which is an important source that vividly demonstrates the specifics of the development of the people and their creative potential. The purpose of the study is to consider leisure activities using the example of the local traditions of the ethnoterritorial group of Alar Buryats inhabiting the modern Alar district in the southern part of the left-bank Angara region, located within the boundaries of the Ust-Ordynsky Buryat district of the Irkutsk region. Materials. The work is based on various sources, including data from developments of the pre-revolutionary period and the Soviet era, modern historical and local history publications, as well as the author's expedition materials. In order to determine the genesis of leisure culture, a comparative analysis was carried out with the national games of neighboring Siberian peoples, including the Sayano-Altai Highlands. Results. Their main directions and nature have been established, previously unknown and little-known national games have been identified and presented, as well as an unfixed dialect terminology. The origins of the originality that is characteristic of the culture of the Buryats of the Pre-Baikal region are determined.
About the Author
Galina V. Makhachkeeva
Independent Researcher (app. 11, Bldg. 24, Mokrov St., Ulan-Ude, Russian Federation)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Cand. Sc. (History)
References
1. Badmaeva R. D. Buryat Traditional Costume. Ulan-Ude: Nova-Print, 2016. 176 p. (In Russ.).
2. Bakaeva E. P. Jangarchi and Zadychi: on the Problem of Mythological and Religious Studies of the Epic “Jangar”. In: Problems of Ethnic History and Culture of the Turkic-Mongolic Peoples of Southern Siberia and Adjacent Territories. M.: Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (RAS), 1996. Pp. 8–29. (In Russ.)
3. Baldaev S. P. The Buryat Wedding Rituals. Ulan-Ude: Buryatia Book Publ., 1959. 180 p. (In Russ.)
4. Basaeva K. D. Family and Marriage among the Buryats. Ulan-Ude: Buryatia Book Publ., 1991. 192 p. (In Russ.)
5. Batorov P. P. The Folk Calendar of the Alar Buryats. In: Ehtnografical Bulletin of the East-Siberian Society of the Russian Geographic Society. Irkutsk: 1923. No. 3. Pp. 9–10. (In Russ.)
6. Batorov P. P. Squirrel Hunting among the Alar Buryats and Folk Beliefs. In: Buryatievedenie. Bulletins of the Buryat-Mongol Scientific Society named after D. Banzarov. Verkhneudinsk: tip. TsSNKhBMR, 1925. No. 1. Pp. 9–12. (In Russ.)
7. Butanaev V. Ya. National Games of the Khakas People. Astana: Gylym, 2016. 192 p. (In Russ.)
8. Vampilov B. N. From Alar to Vietnam. Moscow: Nauka, 1980. 245 p. (In Russ.).
9. Gergesova T. E. Buryat Folk Dances. Ulan-Ude: Buryatia Book Publ., 2002. 202 p. (In Russ.)
10. Dashieva N. B. Buryat Tailgans (An Experience in Historical and Ethnographic Research). Ulan-Ude: East-Siberian State Academy of the Arts, 2001. 105 p. (In Russ.)
11. Dashieva N. B. Traditional Public Holidays of the Buryats: History and Typologies. Moscow: Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (RAS); Ulan-Ude: East-Siberian State Academy of the Arts, 2012, 211 p. (In Russ.)
12. Dashieva N. B. The Calendar in Traditional Buryat Culture: An Experience in Historical-Ethnographic and Cultural-Genetic Research. Moscow: Nauka, Vostochnaya literatura, 2015. 239 p. (In Russ.)
13. Dugarov D. S. Historical Roots of White Shamanism (on the material of ritual folklore of the Buryats). М.: Nauka, 1991. 300 p. (In Russ.)
14. Zhamtsarano Ts. Travel Diaries 1903–1907. Ulan-Ude: Resp. Tipographiya, 2011. 262 p. (In Russ.)
15. Zhornickaya M. Ya. Traditional Dances of the Western Buryats (based on materials from the Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous District of the Irkutsk Region). In: Traditions and Innovations in the Ethnic Culture of the Buryats. Ulan-Ude: East-Siberian State Academy of the Arts, 1999. Pp. 121–143. (In Russ.)
16. Zimin Zh. A. Alar: History and the Present. Book I. Alar — the Native Cradle. Ulan-Ude: East-Siberian State Academy of the Culture and Arts, 2004. 203 p. (In Russ.).
17. Zomonov M. D., Zomonov Zh. M. Thesaurus of Buryat Shamanism: a Teaching Guide. Ulan-Ude: East-Siberian State Academy of the Culture and Arts, 2014. 173 p. (In Russ.)
18. Kolesnikov A. A. On the Issue of Hydronyms of Kott Origin in the Southeastern Part of the Yenisei Ridge. Innovations in Science. No. 12 (88). 2018. Pp. 42–44. (In Russ.).
19. Kyzlasov L. R. The Primitive Communal System and its Disintegration. In: History of Khakassia from Ancient Times to 1917. Moscow: Nauka, 1993. Pp. 8–35. (In Russ.)
20. Malakshinov P. I. The School in Taryat. I. Asan (transl. from Buryat). Мoscow: Sovetskaya Rossiya, 1975. 320 p. (In Russ.)
21. Malakshinov P. I. Alar-Gol. Мoscow: Sovremennik, 1979. 269 p. (In Russ.)
22. Manzhigeev I. M. The Yangut Buryat family (Experience of the Historical and Ethnographic Research). Ulan-Ude: Buryatia Book Publ., 1960. 232 p. (In Russ.)
23. Mahachkeeva G. V. “Dukharyan” — the Ritual of a Wine Cup Exchange of the Buryats of the Baikal Region. Izvestiya Altajskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. 2017. No. 5 (97). Pp. 147–151. (In Russ.)
24. Mahachkeeva G. V. Cattle Breeding Traditions of the Alar Buryats. Humanities Research in the Russian Far East. 2022. No. 3 (61). Pp. 53–63. (In Russ.)
25. Mahachkeeva G. V. About the Ethnic Appearance of the Buryats of the Baikal Region Using the Example of the Alar Buryats (based on materials of researchers from the 18th to the early 20th centuries). Bulletin of the East-Siberian State Institute of the Culture. 2024. No. 2 (30). Pp. 10–22. (In Russ.)
26. Mihajlov T. M. Buryat Shamanism: History, Structure, and Social Functions. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1987. 290 p. (In Russ.)
27. Miyagasheva S. B. The Rite of Seter Tatakh and the Cult of Water Spirits among the Mongolic Peoples. Oriental Studies. 2024; 17 (5): 1066–1075. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.22162/2619-0990-2024-75-5-1066-1075
28. Molodin V. I. The Population of Mountainous Altai in the Early Iron Age as an Ethnocultural Phenomenon: Origin, Genesis, and Historical Fate (based on Archaeological, Anthropological, and Genetic Data). Novosibirsk: Institute of the Archeology and Ethnology (SB RAS), 2003. 285 p. (In Russ.)
29. Nikolaeva D. A. Ritual Functions of Youth Games in Traditional Buryat Culture. Bulletin of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts. 2008. No. 5. Pp. 45–48. (In Russ.)
30. Nikolaeva D. A. Archetypes of the Female Cult in the Traditional Culture of the Baikal Buryats. In: The Worldview of the Population of Southern Siberia and Central Asia in Historical Perspective. No. 3. Barnaul: Azbuka, 2009. Pp. 220–225. (In Russ.)
31. Nikolaeva D. A. Reconstruction of Rites of Passage in the Archaic Culture of the Baikal Buryats. Izvestiya of Altai State University. 2010. No. 4-1 (68). Pp. 183–190. (In Russ.)
32. Oglezneva G. V. Enlightenment, Science, and Culture Figures. Journalism. Development of Local Literature. In: History of the Ust-Orda Buryat District: Western Buryats in Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and Within Russia, the USSR, and the Russian Federation. Irkutsk: Bajkal State University, 2024. Pp. 340–356. (In Russ.).
33. Okladnikov A.P. History and Culture of Buyatia: Collected Articles. Ulan-Ude: Buryatia Book Publ., 1976. 458 p. (In Russ.)
34. Saganova E. Inheriting the Alar Valley. Collection of Research Papers of the Students of the Alar District of the Irkutsk Region (2010–2017). Kutulik: A. V. Vampilov Inter-Settlement Central Library, 2018. 252 p. (In Russ.)
35. Smojlov A. A. On the Play Culture of the Peoples of Russia. Bulletin of the Chuvash University. Humanities. 2008. No. 3. Pp. 100–104. (In Russ.)
36. Tugutov I. E. Public Games of the Buryats. In: Ethnographical Bulletin. Ulan-Ude: Buryat Complex Research Institute (SB RAS). 1961. No. 2. Pp. 43–65. (In Russ.).
37. Tugutov I. E. Ethnographer, and Poet. In: Ethnographical Bulletin. Ulan-Ude: Buryat Complex Research Institute (SB RAS). 1961. No. 2. Pp. 159–162. (In Russ.)
38. Khangalov M. N. Collected Works. In 3 vols. Vol. 1. Ulan-Ude: Buryatia Book Publ., 1958. 551 p. (In Russ.)
39. Khangalov M. N. Collected Works. In 3 vols. Vol. 2. Ulan-Ude: Buryatia Book Publ., 1959. 444 p. (In Russ.)
40. Khangalov M. N. Collected Works. In 3 vols. Vol. 3. Ulan-Ude: Buryatia Book Publ., 1960. 421 p. (In Russ.)
41. Khangalov M. N. Collected Works. In 3 vols. Vol. 1. Ulan-Ude: NovaPrint, 2021. 568 p. (In Russ.)
42. Shagdarov L. D., Cheremisov K. M., Buryaad-Orod Toli. Buryat-Russian Dictionary. In 2 vols. Vol. 1. A–Н. Ulan-Ude: Resp. tip., 2010. 635 p. (In Russ.)
43. Shagdarov L. D., Cheremisov K. M., Buryaad-Orod Toli. Buryat-Russian Dictionary. In 2 vols. Vol. 2. O–Я. Ulan-Ude: Resp. tip., 2010. 708 p. (In Russ.)
44. Sherhunaev R. A. Uligershin Paramon Dmitriev: on the Question of the Aesthetic Views of the Buryat Storytellers. Ulan-Ude: Buryatia Book Publ., 1970. 155 p. (In Russ.)
45. Sherhunaev R. A. The Noble Tribe of Singers. Irkutsk: East-Siberian Book Publ., 1977. 264 p. (In Russ.)
46. Sherhunaev R. A. Buryat Folk Storytellers. Part 1. Ulan-Ude: Buryatia Book Publ., 1986. 208 p. (In Russ.)
47. Yurchenko O. O. The Origins of Creativity: the Ancestry of A. Vampilov on his Paternal Line. Available at: https://izron.ru/articles/aktualnye-problemy-gumanitarnykh-nauk-v-rossii-i-za-rubezhom-sbornik-nauchnykh-trudov-poitogam-mezh/sektsiya-10-russkaya-literatura-spetsialnost-10-01-01/istoki-tvorchestva-predki-a-vampilova-po-ottsovskoy-linii. (accessed: 20 February 2025). (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Makhachkeeva G. About Traditional Games, Amusements and Entertainments of the Buryats of the Pre-Baikal Region (using the example of the Alar Buryats). Mongolian Studies. 2025;17(2):254-274. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22162/2500-1523-2025-2-254-274
Views:
14
Email this article 