KARELIAN MYTHOLOGICAL BELIEFS ABOUT ANIMALS AND BIRDS (ON THE EXAMPLE OF FOLK MEDICINE)

Abstract

In the beliefs of the Karelians, animals and birds act as significant elements of religious and mythological rites and rituals. Many peoples have tales, myths, beliefs and ceremonies that testify of the close relationship of man and the animal world. Traditional medicine, in which animals and birds are endowed with special functions, is no exception. The purpose of the scientific article is to identify the mythological ideas of Karelians about animals and birds in Karelian folk medicine. The studied material was also reflected in the Karelian national classification of diseases, in which, among others, groups of diseases from birds, animals and insects are absolutely clearly distinguished. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the scientific works of domestic and Finnish ethnographers and linguists. The sources for the linguistic analysis are dialect dictionaries of some Baltic-Finnish languages and etymological dictionaries of the Finnish language. All collected lexical and ethnographic material is analyzed in conjunction with closely related Karelian languages, as well as with ethnolinguistic data from the Russian language. As a result of the study, it can be clearly traced that the Karelians identified groups of animals and birds in the fauna and avifauna that could “send” various diseases to humans. However, they could become a means of curing these ailments. In the nomination of diseases, the similarity of the symptoms of the disease to the appearance of animals and birds is significant, which indicates a close relationship of man with the animal world.