RITES AND BELIEFS OF SHARKAN UDMURTS IN THE LOCALITY OF SOSNOVKHA

Abstract

The article is devoted to the description of the traditional rites and beliefs of the Sharkan Udmurts in the Sosnovkha locality. It is based on the materials of the ethnographic expeditions conducted in 1993 and 2001 in the Sharkan district of the Udmurt Republic at the watershed of the Cheptsa and Kama river basins. The work contains the information on the demographic indicators, settlement area, and dialect terms used by this local Udmurt group. The author gives the characteristic of the cult places, family and calendar rites of the following settlements: Lyalshur, Sosnovkha, Tylovyl, Kureggurt, Suronovo, Bygi, and others. The ancient public centers of the locality were the villages of Lyalshur and Old Sharkan (Lonlez Dokya). The large territorial shrine of Dzozo was situated in the surrounding of these villages. Traditional collective prayers were regularly performed in the vicinity of a dozen villages in the Sosnovkha area. There foals and sheep were sacrificed. It was revealed that the population of this area was predominantly the Northern Udmurt tribal groups Purga, Vortcha, Bonya and Kushya. The South Udmurt clans of Dokya and Pudga are also traced in the region.