Tungus-Manchu Traditional Beliefs. Part 1: Fertility Cult and Images of Divine Ancestresses

Tungus-Manchu Traditional Beliefs.
Part 1: Fertility Cult and Images of Divine Ancestresses

doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2021.49.3.112-118

T.Y. Sem
Russian Museum of Ethnography, Inzhenernaya 4/1, St. Petersburg, 191186, Russia

This article explores the traditional beliefs of the Tungus-Manchu peoples and is based on the hermeneutic and comparative analysis of the fertility cult. Some of its aspects are related to images of divine ancestresses, the tree of life, the hearth cult, ancestral lineage, and animistic beliefs. For the first time, cults of fertility, as well as those of divine ancestresses, are regarded as an integral whole. This analysis demonstrates that images of ancestresses are preserved in mythology, rituals (specifically domestic ones), tribal culture, and cultural features related to birth, shamanism, ludic culture, and applied art. Also, they relate to the hearth cult, fire rites, the tree of souls or tree of life, creation, and shamanism as part of folk medicine and rites of passage. The conclusion is made that the Tungus-Manchu fertility cult is an inherent religious system, relevant to the mentality, archetypal cultural values, ethno-cultural specificity, and contacts with other peoples.

Keywords: Tungus-Manchu, traditional beliefs, rituals, fertility cult, divine ancestresses, symbolism