MYTHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS IN ORAL STORIES OF BURYATS IN INNER MONGOLIA AUTONOMOUS REGION OF CHINA

. The article discusses the mythological characters presented in the oral stories of the Chinese Buryats. The revealed mythological characters, which have the most expressive and specific characteristics, are conditionally divided into characters of heavenly origin and into the local spirits — the owners of the area, mountains, water objects. It is concluded that the first group of characters is endowed with the functions of the creator and manager of a certain world order at an early stage in the development of living beings. For another group of characters, designated as spirits of nature, are characterized with the functions of protectors of the inhabitants of certain objects of the surrounding world — flora and fauna. As the folklore material shows, in order to maintain the mythological balance in nature, we can see a desire of ancient people to appease the local spirits, so as not to cause a negative impact on the life of people.