UDMURT NAMES OF GODS, GHOSTS AND HOLIDAYS IN J.G. GEORGI's 18th CENTURY ETHNOGRAPHICAL HANDBOOK

Abstract

German origin natural scientist Johann Gottlieb Georgi participated in the Orenburg Expedition, organized by the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg. Between 1770 and 1774 he travelled in the Middle and Lower Volga Region, the Orenburg area, Bashkiria, the neighbourhood of Lake Baikal and reached as far as the Russian-Chinese-Mongolian border. He summarized his experiences of the journey in his book titled Bemerkungen einer Reise im Russischen Reich im Jahre 1772-1774 . A few years later he published an extended version of the Bemerkungen , titled Beschreibung aller Nationen des Russischen Reichs , a richly illustrated volume describing in detail the customs and religious life of 80 peoples in Russia. One of these is the Udmurts. Georgi tells us about the living circumstances, clothing, wedding and burying customs of the Udmurts and describes very thoroughly their gods, ghosts, holidays, sacrifices, also providing us with the Udmurt names for them. He writes about the main gods (Inmar, Kildisin, Mu-Kildisin, Šundi mumi) , the evil god (Šajtan) , the guardian spirits and the evil spirits (Voršud, Vu murt, Palas murt, Ubir, Albaste) . He also describes the sacrificial places (keremet and lud, kuala, mudor) , writes about the sacrificial (vöś, vöśan) ceremony and about the mediators (tuno, uťis, vedin) between earth and heaven. He also mentions some special events like the spring sowing and the summertime and autumn harvests.