Detailed contents
Acknowledgments
Transcription of Nganasan
Introduction
Archeology and linguistics
Colonial history in the Russian Empire
Christianization
Trade
An assimilating society
A semi-complex marriage system
A formerly dualistic organization
M1 The origin of the Raven “Clan”
M2 The origin of the Eagle “Clan”
Tundra hunters
The ritual cycle
The upheavels of the Soviet period
The Nganasans today
Fieldwork and informants
Written sources
Foreword. — The directional system of the Nganasans
First Part. Toward the sun
Chapter one. — The annual festival
R1 The festival of the pure hut (1931)
The annual gathering
A “pure” hut
Parting from the dead
Travelling towards the south
R2 A shamanic rite for finding a thief
Two essential rites
Chap. II. — Shamanic weddings
A nuptial rite
R3 A Nganasan wedding
Ugro-Samoyed sticks and weddings
R4 A Nenets proposal
A male married shaman
M3 The young man who wanted a spirit wife
Life thongs
The moon, the sun and the shamans
M4 The shaman and the moon
M5 The two shamans, the moon and the sun (1ST version)
M6 The two shamans, the moon and the sun (2nd version)(a Somatu myth)
The sun daughter at the shamans’ side
A1 The shamanic dream of Demnimie
The sun daughter in mythology
M7 The czar’s messenger and the sun daughter
M8 Orphan-Spirit and the sun daughter
M9 Kar-bogatyr’ and the sun daughter
M10 Ironfist and the sun daughter
M11 Goldfoot and the sun daughter
M12 Kar-bogatyr’ and the water daughter
Matrimonial compensations
A2 The reindeer taken away by the sun
The smallpox woman
A3 The shaman, and the festival and smallpox (1)
A4 The shaman, and the festival and smallpox (2)
M13 The two shamans and smallpox (a Somatu myth)
Chap. III. — Stories about shamans
A5 The shamanic election of Djuhadie
Birth of a shaman
A costume-body
M14 The old man who played with his eyes
A6 The election of Noboptie (fragment)
M15 The man who wanted to become a shaman
Drum and drumstick and substitutes
R5 A difficult hunt for the drum-reindeer
M16 The shaman, the drumstick and the drum
R6 The capture of the drum-reindeer by a she-shaman
Chap. IV. — The shaman-ancestors
The five shaman-ancestors of Tubiaku
The shaman-ancestors of Demnimie and Noboptie
Hotəryə and Birid
M17 The shaman and good luck at hunting and fishing
M18 The two shamans and good luck at fishing
Təjbulaa
M19 The shaman and cattlebreeding
N’indil’i
Nad’əə
M20 The Somatu shaman and the Nenets bard (a Somatu myth)
M21 The shaman with the cut-up body
N’ejmiŋ
M22 The female shaman and smallpox
M23 The male shaman and smallpox
Second Part. Far from the dead
Chapter one — Rites linked to the dead
A7 The journey of the deceased
The shadow-stealing ghosts
M24 The shadow-stealing ghost
The breath-stealing barus’i: illness
The woman-stealing barus’i: female shamanism
A8 Djuhadie fights his barus’i possessed daughter
A9 Noboptie possessed by a barus’i
A10 The death of Holjamptie Kosterkin
The breath-retrieving shaman: rites of healing
R7 A healing conducted by Djuhadie
R8 A healing conducted by Noboptie
R9 Healings conducted by Demnimie
R10 A child delivery conducted by Tubiaku
R11 A healing conducted by Tubiaku
Diversity of shamanic rites executed for difficult child deliveries
The principles of shamanic healing
Chap. II. — The dead and the barus’i in mythology
M25 The two shamans resuscitating a recently deceased woman
M26 The two shamans gone to the world of the dead
M27 The dead young man who wanted a living wife
An underlying marriage system
Lemmings and reindeer
M28 The dead man who came back to life
M29 The lemming and the reindeer
A red half and a black half
Where do the barus’i come from?
M30 The appearance of the barus’i
M31 The appearance of the barus’i(Orphan-Spirit)
An approach to the Nenets representational system
M32 The man who wanted to live at his wife’s house (a Nenets myth)
M33 A history of the spirits (a Nenets myth)
Chap. III. — The eastern and western spirits
M34 The three girls and the storm (1ST version)
The tasks prescribed by the mother
The tasks prescribed by the spirit and his mother
The roles played by the spirit
M35 The three girls and the storm (2nd version)
M36 A Selkup version
Nenets versions
M37 Good luck and the three sons (a Nenets myth)
When the direction spirits meet Orphan-Spirit
M38 Orphan-Spirit and the direction spirits
Chap. IV. — From the big dumbbells to the little ’stute one
Ogres changed into insects
M39 The origin of the insects (short version)
M40 The origin of the insects (long version)
M41 The young woman and the bear
M42 The hunter and the ogre
Epic drifts
A11 Elk-reindeer (epic song)
On the opposite side from the ogres: the s’übsə
M43 A woman among the s’übsə
M44 A s’übsə among the Nganasans
M45 The idiot (Ibulə)
A crafty but poor native against wealthy but stupid Russians
M46 How to deceive foreigners (Oeloko)
M47 The fox’s adventures
The characteristics of D’ajkü
M48 The shaman who burns himself in the fire
The ten sequences of the D’ajkü cycle
Russian material
Constructing a Nganasan cycle
Two tricksters
M49 How D’ajkü glues himself to the moon
Annex. — The organization of the Nganasan camps according to the 1926-1927 census
Bibliography
Thematic index
Glossary
Table of maps and illustrations
Résumé
Abstract