Veps

Mythology and beliefs of the Veps

Винокурова Ирина Юрьевна, руководитель Сектора этнологии Института языка, литературы и истории КарНЦ РАН, доктор исторических наук

   The Veps were converted to Christianity in its Orthodox form very early - at the turn of the 10th-11th centuries, much earlier than most other Finno-speaking peoples (Karelians - in the 13th century, Estonians - in the 13th century, Komi - in the 14th century, Saami - in the 15th century, Mari and Mordva - in the 16th century, Udmurts - in the 17th century). Some echoes of memories about it have survived in the form of a peculiar tradition in some groups of Vepsians. Thus, N.I. Bogdanov, studying dialects of the Vepsian language, discovered an interesting fact connected, according to his assumption, with the Vepsian baptism. Among the Shimozersky Veps celebrated a holiday, which in Russian they called ‘warm Nikola’, and in Vepsian ristpuhapei - ‘the day of holy baptism’.

The celebration took place at the local chapel of St Nicholas after Ilyin's Day (20.07/02.08). The Vepsian name of the feast, its time, which does not coincide exactly with the St. Nicholas Days celebrated according to the saints, and its main ritual - bathing in the ‘Jordan’ on Lake Yandozero gave N.I. Bogdanov a reason to interpret it as a memory of the first baptism of the Vepsians of this district (Bogdanov. NA KSC. P. 159-160). The record in the annals under 1471 summarises the conversion of the Vesya to Christianity. It says that Vladimir, having baptised all Russians and a number of other peoples, baptised ‘...and Merska and Krivicheska Vesya, rekshe Belozerskaya’ (PSRL. Vol. 8. P. 160).

   However, the introduction of the people to the new religion was a difficult, long and unfinished process. This is evidenced, for example, by the 1661 letter of the Novgorod metropolitan Macarius sent to the archimandrite of the Tikhvin monastery Joseph. In it he expresses his dissatisfaction with the fact that in a number of Vepsian pogosts - Pashozersky, Shugozersky, Pelushsky - Orthodox Christians do not go to church on great feasts and Sundays, and those who come - during the holy singing they do not stand ‘still’, talk and laugh; during the great fasts they do not go to their spiritual fathers, do not take communion, etc. (Joalaid, 1989. P. 80-81). The ritual side of the Orthodox religion was better assimilated by the Veps. The local church, in its turn, accepted the old rites, trying to introduce them in its own way. As a result, the Veps formed a peculiar worldview complex that included pagan elements along with Christianity.

Cosmogonic myths

   The few Veps myths about the creation of the world that have survived have been influenced by Christian beliefs. In one of them the creation of the universe is presented as the result of the activity of the two main antagonistic forces of the Christian religion - God and the Devil: ‘When God created the earth and living beings, the devil interfered with Him out of envy. God became angry, grabbed the devil and threw him from heaven to the earth, into a swamp. In the swamp, in the place where the devil fell, a big hole was formed; from this hole all kinds of ‘unclean things’ came out. Some of them went to the lakes - vodniki, some to the forests - lesoviki, some got into clouds and so spread all over the world’ (Kolmogorov, 1913. P. 372).

   Another myth tells how the birds were ordered by God to participate in the creation of the ‘world’ river (the Milky Way in Vepsian (also in Finnish, Estonian) is called the ‘bird's way’). ‘God planned to dig a river and called the birds to help. The birds responded to God's call and participated in laying the riverbed, except for the hawk. For disobedience the Lord punished the hawk. During the Lent of the Saviour (Spasan puha), which lasts from the Transfiguration of the Lord (6/19th September) to the Third Saviour (16/29th August), the hawk is forbidden to drink water from the river. Because of this, it squeaks and begs for water, but does not dare to drink from the river’ (Vinokurova, 1998. P. 50).

   Vepsian folk ideas about the universe are similar to those of many peoples. In them, the earth looks flat, as a round island surrounded by water, and the sky as a glass cover. God carved golden nails in the sky - stars (Vinokurova, 1986. P. 59; Rainio, 1989. S. 148).

Supreme Gods

   Apparently, as a result of early Christianisation, historical medieval sources did not have time to record the names of the ancient Veps supreme gods. The data of linguistics and ethnography allow us to make a certain reconstruction of the ancient pantheon. The name of the supreme deity Jumou (southern Veps. - juma, northern Veps - d'umal, middle Veps - jumou, g'umou. It is formed from the root juma: Fin., Kar. - jumala; Est. - jumal; Saami. - Jumbel; Komi -Jomal; Mar. - Yumo, Kugu) researchers connect it with the name of the sky, air (Petru-hin, Helimskii, 1982. P. 564; Vladykin, 1994. P. 101).

   The god Jumou was ‘in charge’ of the weather. Such phenomena as thunder, thunderstorm, rainbow depended on him, and their names in Vepsian language include the name of this god: g'umalanguru - thunder (literally ‘god's thunder’), g'umalansa - thunderstorm (lit. ‘god's weather’), jumalanheboine (lit. ‘god's horse’) or jumalankusak - rainbow (lit. ‘god's kushak’). This is also confirmed by an expression recorded among the Shimozersky Veps: ‘G'umou g'ureidab i lamin iskeb’ - lit. ‘God (thunder) rattles and shoots lightning’ (SVYA, 1972. P. 151).

In the process of Christianisation the terms jumala (Fin., Car.), jumal (Est.), jumou (Veps.) began to denote ‘god in general’ (Petrukhin, Helimsky, 1962. P. 23). The functions of the Vepsian ‘thunderer’ Jumou (Dyumal) were partially transferred to St. Ilya. Among the Vepsians, as well as Russians and Karelians, there were preserved ideas about the origin of thunder and lightning from Elijah the Prophet, who rides across the sky in a fiery chariot (cf. Makashina, 1982. P. 85; Barantsev, 1978. P. 135-136). In the northern Vepsian folk calendar there were a couple of interrelated holidays in honour of the warming and cooling of the water in Lake Onega. The first holiday was celebrated on 1th/14th June. According to folk beliefs, on that day Dyumal ‘lowered a warm stone into the water’. This was due to a thunderstorm with warm rain, according to folk observations, which necessarily happened on this day. The second is Ilya's Day (20th July/2nd August), when ‘Ilya lowered a cold stone into the water’ and there was also a probability of a thunderstorm. On both holidays there was a rite of bathing, in the first case - the first summer bathing, and in the second - the last. Thus, the holiday united the pagan god and Elijah the Prophet. In Kapsha Veps (v. Korvala), unlike the northern Veps, these two holidays were connected with two saints - Nikola and Ilya. There were beliefs that ‘Mikola (9th May/22nd May) lowers a warm stone, and Ilya - a cold one’ (Vinokurova, 1996 b. P. 99).

   The Baltic-Finnish peoples also have other deities with the same names, but fulfilling different functions. For example, the Karelian god of love Lembi existed in the past (Surhasko, 1977. P. 53), the Veps lemboi is a devil, a dark spirit. In the Veps Jesus Christ is denoted by the term Siind, in the Karelian - Syndy, this was also the name of the deity appearing during the holy days and fulfilling the functions of a fortune-teller in fortune-telling (Konkka AL., 1980. P. 81).

Nature's spirits

Much more stable in Vepsian mythology was its so-called ‘lowest layer’ - spirits connected with the whole mythologised space from the house to the forest and classified by the church as ‘evil’.

   The Veps, as an agricultural people, developed mythological ideas about spirits inhabiting the field. However, they were found mainly among the southern Veps. It was believed that every field had its own master (poudizand) and mistress (poudemag). In Veps folk beliefs, like many other peoples, the harvest was represented as a painful labour of the mistress of the field, during which the birth of grain (‘the spirit of bread’) contained in sheaves took place. According to folk beliefs, at this time one could often hear moans in the field, which meant that the mistress of the field was giving birth. The one who heard the moans was sure to give the ‘woman in labour’ a ‘nappy’: he took off his loincloth, handkerchief and apron and left it on the field. But the most popular among the Veps spirits was and still is the ‘master’ of the forest. He is known under many names, by which it is possible to outline some stages of development of the folk worldview. Initially, the object of deification was the forest itself (tes), then the spirit of the forest element - mechiine, korbhiine (lit. ‘forest man’) - was singled out. Over time, he was endowed with anthropomorphic features and became a ‘forest man’ (mecamez) and then a ‘master’ (Hand) (Vladykin, 1994. P. 97). People's family relations also put an imprint on the ideas about spirits: the master (izand), as a rule, had a wife-mistress (emag) and sometimes children (lapsed). The forest master appeared to people not only as an anthropomorphic being, but also in other guises, for example, in the form of an animal (bear, snake, owl) (Vinokurova. PMA, 1997).

   The dual attitude of the Veps to the forest was reflected in the representations of the forest spirit-master: on the one hand, it was the breadwinner of the peasant, on the other hand, it concealed all kinds of dangers. The forest master could send a hunter a lot of game, a gatherer - a lot of mushrooms and berries, and a shepherd - to ensure the safety of livestock, but he could also drive a traveller or livestock off the road, scare wild animals at him. In order not to anger the forest spirits, every Vepsian peasant in the past knew various magical rites in case of meeting them in the forest, when sleeping under trees, as well as sacrificial rites at the beginning and end of forest fishery activities. Thus, having finished collecting ‘gifts of the forest’, one had to make a sacrifice in the form of a part of berries and mushrooms, which were left on a stump, at a roadside cross or at a crossroads (Vinokurova, 1994 a. P. 27). Many villagers still follow these traditions when visiting the forest.

   In the past, the waterman was no less revered than the leshy (wood spirit), but the belief in him has not survived to the present day. The Veps' ideas about the waterman also reflect different stages of personification of water objects. Thus, the southern Veps speak of rivers as female beings (IAB, 1969. P. 238). The inhabitants of the village of Nemzha personified water objects. Nemzha was personified by Lake Kuzh-yarvi. Before starting fishing, a fisherman approached the lake and necessarily ‘greeted’ it: ‘Hello, Kuzh-yarvi! Give me fish!’ (‘Zdorovo, Kuzjarvut! Anda kaloid!’). The greeting was accompanied by extending the hand to the water and imitating a handshake. In response, there followed the greeting of the lake, which was uttered by the fisherman himself: ‘Zdorovo!’ (Vinokurova, 1994 a. P. 26). With the development of animistic beliefs the personification of various water objects was gradually replaced by images of their masters. The Veps had a lake master spirit (jarvenizand) and a ‘mistress of the brook’ (ojanemag). As for the river, no special Vepsian name for its spirit-master has been found so far. However, the term cherandak was recorded among the russified Veps of the Belozero region.

   It comes from the Vepsian verb ciraita ‘to murmur’, associated with the noise of flowing water. It is believed that Cherandak is an evil spirit that breaks the ice in the rivers every spring, travelling from the mouth of the Kovzhi to the Sheksny (Cherepanova, 1983. P. 86).

At the same time, the Veps have names denoting the host spirits of water, applicable to any body of water: vedehiine (‘waterman’), veden izand (‘master of water’) and veden emag (‘mistress of water’), veden uk (‘water old man’). Two more terms referring to the waterman are turzas; veziturzas were promulgated only in the southern Veps. They are also found in the Kalevala, Finnish folk songs and Sami folklore and derive from Old Icelandic purs, pors (‘giant, spirit of sickness, sorcerer’) (Holmberg, 1913. S. 216-216). In Veps mythology there are two versions of the origin of the watermen. According to one of them, water spirits appeared at the same time with all the evil on earth at the creation of the world; according to the other - from drowned people.

   Unlike the master of the forest, who is capable of both good and evil deeds, the waterman in Vepsian mythology is always an evil spirit, cruel and treacherous. His sudden appearance in front of a man always promises misfortune. He overturns boats, catches and strangles bathers, does not spare even children, drowns cows' horses, stops mills, can send diseases (Kolmogorov, 191; P. 373; Turner, 1956. S. 184). Being the lord of fish, the waterman often harms fishermen: he drives away his ‘fish herd’ from their nets and seines (Kettunen, 192f S. 368-369). In order to placate the waterman and get a good catch, Vepsian fishermen made offerings to him at the beginning and at the end of fishing. Thus, the southern Vepsians used to dip an egg into the water before catching fish; the Belozero Vepsians threw a cake, tobacco and wine into the pool (Vinokurova, 1994 a. P. 26-27). According to the people, tobacco and wine are ‘vicious products’, the addiction to which is characteristic of any evil, so they were more likely to cause the favour of the waterman. At the end of fishing, a part of the catch was sacrificed to the master of water. The Vepsian waterman was also characterised by his connection with some natural phenomena. In the southern Veps, for example, rain and fog were explained by the waterman's movements from one water body to another (Kettunen, 1918 c. S. 53, Vinokurova, 1994 a. P. 21). On the territory of Veps settlement there are many so-called ‘periodic’ lakes, which temporarily, sometimes for long periods of time disappear and then appear again, filling the old dried up hollow (Kushtozero, Undozero, Shimozero, Dolgozero, etc.). These mysterious phenomena of nature were explained by the departure of a waterman to his neighbour in another lake, in order to lose at cards (or other game).

   The representations of the waterman also reflect various forms of veneration of water, first of all, as an intimidating force hostile to man. For disrespectful attitude water could punish with diseases. It was strictly forbidden to defile water in any way: to spit in it, to urinate, to pour slop, to wash dirty boots in a ‘clean’ water, not in a puddle. Violation of the prohibitions was explained by the occurrence of the skin disease 'vezipagan'. According to the southern Veps, 'voddanka' (cf. Russian vodanka) was also a disease caused by water. In case of its occurrence the patient went to the water body he had defiled and asked forgiveness from the water. The Veps had a widespread prohibition to swear ‘on the water’ in order not to provoke the anger of the waterman. After sunset it was forbidden to rinse laundry, ‘or the waterman would come out of the water and shout that his dinner was not disturbed’ (Makarjev. NA KNTS. L. 155). At the inhabitants of Shatozero this prohibition had a slightly different interpretation: ‘After sunset one cannot rinse the water, one cannot throw pebbles into the water either: the owners have gone to bed‘; 'one cannot throw pebbles into the resting water after sunset’ (Vinokurova. NA KSC. L. 34).

The cult of fire

   The cult of fire, the element opposite to water, occupied an important place in ancient Veps beliefs. It was expressed first of all in various taboos: one could not spit into the fire, trample it with feet, etc.: for this the fire could take revenge with fire or diseases: for example, appearance of a rash called 'lendoi tuli' (‘flying fire’) around the lips. Various kinds of fire (bonfires, burning beams, candles) and smoke, to which purifying, healing, protecting or producing properties were attributed, were widely used in Vepsian rituals.

   In many peoples of the world myths about the origin of fire tell that someone accidentally extracted it by friction or carving (Tokarev, 1982. P. 239). At the Veps such a cultural hero was a little boy. Fire obtained by ancient methods was considered to be the most effective disarming and healing agent in extreme situations. It was used, for example, in the late 19th century in the village of Korvala, where cholera had been raging for 7 years. They managed to get rid of the disease by going round the village with a ‘wooden fire’. During the rounds, according to the residents' stories, a big black cat (personification of the disease) jumped out of the village and the disease passed to Noidala, from where it was squeezed out in the same way (Volkov. AMAE. F. 13. Op. 1. No. 13. L. 72).

   To stop the fire, the spirits of the fire masters (lamoin izand, Iamoin emag) threw an egg into the fire as a sacrifice and asked them to stop the raging element. According to other information, the fire was personified into independent anthropomorphic images of a thin and short ‘master’ and his wife - the ‘mistress’ of the fire (pozaran izand and pozaran emag). The cult of fire among the Veps was also expressed in the veneration of the spirit of the home hearth (oven) - pyachinrahkoi. Only fragmentary information about it has been preserved. During a South Vepsian wedding, a pot of porridge was sacrificed to him and placed on the cooker pole (Trunnen, 1956. S. 186). Among the features characterising the appearance of the spirit, only one is known - it is smeared with soot, because it lives in the oven. Nowadays the name pyachinrahkoi is used only in a joking form in relation to a person covered with mud, or lazy, constantly lying idle on the cooker, as well as in children's teasing.

House spirits

   The Veps had ideas about mythological creatures inhabiting the house and outbuildings. First of all, it was the ‘master of the hut’ - pertinizand, who lived in it with his wife (pert'inemag) and children (lapsed). The pertinizand, or domovoy (folklore house spirit), was the patron saint of the family. He always appeared to the household unexpectedly, which served as a warning of trouble. The domovoy and his wife were usually represented as an old man and an old woman as tall as a normal person or very small. People's views on the location of the domovoy in the hut varied. The space at the cooker, behind the cooker, on the cooker, underground, red corner were called.

   The Vepsian domovoy appears in housewarming rituals. The Veps had two forms of housewarming rituals. The vast majority of Veps asked ‘the master to let them into the new house, saying a special incantation, for example: Master, mistress, girls, boys! Let me into this house to spend the night, help me to live well, to live easier, give me much happiness, health and everything good. (Joalaid, 1978. S. 236). The second ritual was apparently borrowed from the Russians. It consisted in inviting the domovoy from the old house to the new one and carrying him there in a pot with burning coals or in a lapta. The difference between the East Slavic and Vepsian rituals of the transition to a new house was probably based on the different views of the peoples on the essence of the domovoy. It is believed that in the Eastern Slavs, the domovoy is the ancestor of a given family. In the Veps 'pert'izand' and his wife are basically spirits, ‘owners of the land’ (maizand and maemag) on which a new house was built (Joalaid, 1978. S. 237). Livestock breeding influenced the development of Veps beliefs and rituals connected with the spirits of the stable. When moving to a new house, in propitiatory rites towards house spirits, more importance was given to sacrifices to the stable spirit than to the house spirit (Joalaid, 1978). There are anthropomorphic and zoomorphic descriptions of the stable owners. Their anthropomorphic portrait is the same as that of the domovoy and his wife. Among the zoomorphic descriptions of the stable are a rat, a frog, a snake, and in the Northern and Shimozersky Veps - a weasel, which can eat the hair on the neck of an unloved horse and braid the mane of a favourite horse. The same zoomorphic images of the house or stable spirits are found in Baltic-Finnish and Slavic peoples (cf. Honko, 1962. S. 281-286; Gura, 1997. P. 227, 307, 384, 403). The Veps' spirit 'master of the riga (a barn)' is sometimes one male or one female character, but there can also be a couple of them. In the Southern Veps it is most often spouses and their children. Riga spirits are known under many names: among the Southern Vepsians they are rigiuk (‘riga grandfather’), rigibuko (‘riga buka’), rignik (‘rizhnik’), riganizand (‘master of the riga’), etc.; among the Middle Veps - rihenizand (‘riga master’), riheuk (‘riga grandfather’), etc. (Vinokurova, 1992. P. 19). The stories about the owners of the Rig in Veps, as well as in Russians of the European North (Pomerantseva, 1985. P. 115), are fragmentary and few in number in comparison with the colourful and numerous stories about the leshiyes and the owners of the yard. The ‘master of the riga’ lived in the riga oven and was represented as dirty and overgrown with wool. Among his harmful actions, the first place was occupied by burning of the riga and the grain there, bad threshing of grain, and martyrdom of a person who stayed overnight in the riga without the spirit's permission. With the help of various sacrifices, family members tried to placate the Rigachnik. For example, before threshing began, the Northern Vepsians spread ‘goodies’ (pieces of bread, sugar, tea) in the corners of the riga and asked the spirit to help them with threshing.

   The house spirits included the ‘bath master’ (kulbet'izand) and the ‘bath mistress’ (kulbet emag, kulbet baba). The appearance of these spirits is almost erased from the memory of modern Veps, sometimes they are described as naked and shaggy anthropomorphic beings. Memories of the forms of honouring this spirit have been preserved. Before washing in a bathhouse, they asked his permission to do so. At the end of the bathing procedure it was supposed to thank the owners. One could not think of the bathhouse as a contagious place, otherwise its spirit, offended, could inflict skin diseases: kulbet'kibu (‘bathhouse disease’) or kulbet pagan (‘bathhouse scabies’).

   In general, house spirits were more favourable to humans than natural spirits. As distance from the centre of human habitation increased, the harmfulness of house spirits increased.

Sorcerers

   According to the Veps, sorcerers - noyds - were intermediaries between spirits and people. The sorcerers were attributed supernatural abilities (both harmful and positive) to influence the forces of nature and people.

   The belief in the Noyds is still alive in Veps villages. However, their number has decreased, the sphere of witchcraft activity has narrowed, and the gender composition of sorcerers has changed. Judging by archival materials of the 1930s, witchcraft in Vepsian villages was usually performed by elderly men; nowadays witchcraft is the business of elderly women. In almost every village there is at least one woman whom the locals consider a sorceress (noyd). It should be said that nowadays in Vepsian (especially South Vepsian) villages one is struck by the almost complete absence of elderly men aged 65 and older. Perhaps, the transition of witchcraft into women's hands occurred precisely as a result of this demographic situation.

   The ability to find people and livestock in the forest who had lost their way home and fallen on a ‘bad trail’ (hondole jalgele) because of the forest spirit's intrigues had long been considered a sorcerer's ability. It was believed that during the search for the missing, the witch entered into direct communication with the forest spirit, which ordinary people could not do. The sorcerer spoke to the forest spirit at the ‘borders’ separating the natural world from the human world - at crossroads, on the porch of the house, etc. With the help of special amulets from evil forces (crosses made of rowan branches, salt, shot) he ‘laid the right path’ for those who had lost their way. To this day, an important witchcraft function is to conclude agreements with the leshiy for cattle grazing (‘rounds’) and hand them over to shepherds the sorcerer could also see a child substituted by the evil power and exchange it for a real one. In the past, the sorcerer also helped in choosing a favourable place to build a dwelling. But this role is now a thing of the past, as now the local administration determines the place for building a new house.

   In the period of traditional wedding rituals (up to the 1930s) sorcerers played a significant role at weddings. Some of them acted as protectors of the wedding, while others could cause harm. At a South Vepsian wedding, the sorcerer-protector acted as the main friend and was called ‘marrying’ (papa). At Northern Vepsian weddings, one of the groom's closest relatives was chosen to play the role of groomsman (drusk). The results of malicious activities of sorcerers at Vepsian weddings could be stopping the horses of the wedding train, depriving the groom of sexual power, casting various diseases on the bride, etc. To this day Vepsian villagers believe in the ability of sorcerers to influence love relationships: sorcerers can ‘pierce’ young people so that they cannot live without each other; they can also destroy love between a boy and a girl or spouses. Vepsian sorcerers used incantations in love magic.

   There are still beliefs about the possibility of a sorcerer's influence on the health of people and livestock: a sorcerer can inflict a disease and cure it. Nowadays, people usually turn to sorcerers if modern medicine is ineffective. Alongside this, there is a certain set of diseases which, according to tradition, are under the control of sorcerers; these are hernia (purend); "volos" - a disease affecting tissue and bones; breast cancer; dropsy; epilepsy (ichune); scrofula; and "schetinka" (sugased). The most serious disease, which could be cured only by a very strong sorcerer, was considered to be the deadly or stone keela - a huge abscess.

   The ritual duties of a Vepsian sorcerer (sorceress) also included fortune-telling. The most widespread type of divination among Vepsian sorcerers is the laying out of 41 stones, which, like the texts of incantations, is kept in great secrecy from the population. The Middle Vepsian and South Vepsian sorcerers use two pairs of objects: clay - coal and bread - salt, and a ball of cow's wool in which a needle with thread is stuck. During the fortune-telling the two pairs of objects are laid out on the sides of the world, and the fortune-teller holds the ball by a thread in a suspended state. By the movement of the ball in the direction of clay-coal or bread-salt the answer to the question is learnt.

   Sorcerers were rewarded for their help in the form of small gifts or money.

Animals and plants

   In the traditional worldview of the Veps, a significant place was occupied by animals, whose role was diverse. It could be a worship connected not only with animistic ideas, totemistic or trade cults, but also with superstitious fear of some of them, endowing them with some supernatural properties. This was intertwined with the real views of the people on the peculiarities of their behaviour. The bear was the most striking image among the revered animals among the Veps, the ‘king of all beasts’. Bear worship was based on archaic totemistic notions and trade cult. Traces of totemic representations manifested themselves, first of all, in the recognition of the bear as a creature similar to man. During excavations of ancient Vepsian burial mounds, a large number of crosses with the image of bears standing on their hind legs were found. According to experts in the field of ancient fine arts, the vertical pose of the bear indicates its connection with man and the supernatural properties of this animal (Kosmenko A., 1984. P. 7). The circle of such representations also includes the stories widespread among Vepsians about the transformation of newlyweds into bears by sorcerers, tales about the marriage of a bear and a hunter or a woman and a bear. The ban on eating bear meat, which has survived in some Vepsian villages, is another evidence that the bear was a totem of some Vepsian clans in ancient times.

   It was forbidden to say the name of the bear (kondi) in the trade cult and was replaced by various euphemisms: kaps (‘paw’), sur os (‘big forehead’), mecizand (‘master of the forest’), bubarik, bukac (‘buka’). It was believed that preserving the skull of a bear favoured its revival; the claws and fangs of the beast were used as hunting talismans. Unlike some Finno-Ugric peoples (Finns, Karelians, Khanty and Mansi), Vepsians have not preserved any traces of bear hunting festivals. Especially many Vepsian beliefs, omens and stories are connected with birds. Apparently, in ancient times swan and crane were totem birds. The prohibition to kill them and eat their meat is still preserved, as the violation of it, according to folk beliefs, necessarily entails misfortune. Back in the 70s of the XX century the southern Veps called a pair of swans "izand" and "emag" - ‘master’ and ‘mistress’ (Kosmenko A., 1984. P. 84). In the distant past it was apparently realised as ‘father’ and ‘mother’, i.e. progenitors of the family. In the Shimozersky Veps, the swan is considered a ‘god bird’ (jumalanlind). In the South Vepsian group the snipe - jumalanboranane, jumalanborask (lit. ‘God's lamb’), and in the North Vepsian group the martlet - jumalanlindiine (lit. ‘God's bird’) are considered to be such birds. According to Northern Vepsian beliefs, it was considered a great sin to kill a martlet. Children were strictly forbidden to throw stones at martlets.

   Various elements of folk tradition testify to the existence of ancient Vepsian ideas about the transformation of the human soul into a bird after death. Gravestones in the form of birds carved out of wood are common in old South Vepsian cemeteries (Azovskaya, 1977. P. 144). The Veps' custom of commemorating ancestors by feeding birds on their graves is also in line with these beliefs. The ideas about the incarnation of the soul in a bird are vividly reflected in Vepsian lamentations. Judging by the texts of lamentations, Vepsians believed in the existence of several souls in a woman, which replaced each other in different periods of the life cycle. Thus, in Vepsian wedding lamentations the bride appears as a duck (sorz). After the wedding the bride acquires the soul of a married woman, which then flies back to her native place in the form of a grieving ‘red cuckoo’ (SVYA, 1969. P. 260). After the death of a married woman the soul-cuckoo leaves her.

   The Veps often intertwined the ideas of a bird-soul and a bird-herald of death. The bird-soul that flew to the world of the dead could return to the living as a messenger of death. According to Vepsian beliefs, if any bird flew into the window of a house, it heralded the imminent death of one of its inhabitants.

   Irrational perceptions were also associated with domestic animals. The rooster, the herald of the coming of the day, was endowed with positive features. It was believed that the rooster's cry defeats and drives away the evil power. This was reflected in the ritual of moving to a new home among the Veps on the Oyati. There it was customary to move to a new place at night immediately after the rooster's shout to drive away the evil power. This motif is quite often found in Vepsian fairy tales: a person is threatened by dark forces (robbers, sorcerers, etc.) and he can be saved only if he holds out until the rooster's cry (VNS, 1996. No. 9).

   The image of the dog included both positive and negative features. On the one hand, the dog was a friend and protector of man. This image of the animal was reflected in the beliefs of the Southern and Kapshi Veps. According to them, to see a dog in a dream meant an early meeting with an old friend or acquisition of a new one. It was considered a favourable omen if a dog ran out or barked towards a traveller entering a village. At the same time, the Veps considered the dog to be an unclean creature capable of inflicting various diseases: rickets (koiranvanhu'z - literally, ‘dog's weakness’), lichen (koiranlap - literally, ‘dog's paw’), barley (koiraniza - literally, ‘dog's nipple’). The treatment of these diseases was based on the principle of their transmission from the human world to the ‘other’ world, which was carried out by the dog itself in a peculiar way: it was given food that had been in contact with the sick place. For example, in the treatment of rickets, a sick child was doused with sour milk and given to the dog to lick it off; and to get rid of shingles and barley, bread was baked, applied hot to the sore spot, and then fed to the animal.

   The representations associated with the cat are also of a dual nature. According to Vepsian beliefs, the cat is a demonological creature that has various connections with all kinds of evil. In the South Vepsian villages up to nowadays there is a widespread belief that cats walking in the forest and wagging their tails can lure vipers and lizards into the house, as the latter take the curved tail of a cat as a similar creature. That is why in South Vepsian villages a rather barbaric way of protecting the house from reptiles was developed - cats' tails were cut off. Black and mottled cats were especially feared among Veps. This was reflected in the proverb ‘A black cat ran away - to bad’ (‘Must kazi joksendi - hondoks’) and in the expression denoting a quarrel between people: ‘A mottled cat ran between people’ (‘Kirjou kazi keskiici proi-di’) (SVYA, 1972. P. 186).

   For the Veps, who originally lived among forests, certain types of trees and shrubs, in particular birch, alder, spruce and mountain ash, were endowed with supernatural properties (Vladykin, 1994. P. 120).

   The birch tree was endowed with vitality and healing properties. Shimozersky Veps have preserved a ritual that testifies to its veneration: in the forest they approached any birch tree, tied it with linden twigs and addressed the tree with a request to send health. Analogues to this rite are known among the Vodi, where copper coins were buried under the birch rootstocks as a sacrifice and accompanied by an appeal to the tree for health (Ariste, 1977. Lk. 155).

   Alder played a great role in cattle-breeding rituals. The Northern Veps have a well-known Christmas Eve omen: if there are a lot of round cones on alder, it means that in the coming year there will be a lot of heifers; if the cones are oblong, there will be bulls. Northern Veps used alder in the rite of first calving (argaita). It was performed after the first nine milkings: the cow was washed, fumigated with smoke or censored with incense, and in the milk obtained from the tenth milking and intended for ceremonial use, alder saplings of round or oblong shape were thrown, depending on the sex of the newborn calf (Vinokurova, 1994 a. P. 52).

   Quite a lot of information has been preserved about the veneration of spruce. The spruce tree was considered to be an amulet, because the arrangement of needles at the ends of the branches resembled a cross. During a thunderstorm or a night in the forest, people always tried to hide under this tree. It was obligatory to ask the spruce tree for permission: it was baptised and addressed to it as a living being: ‘Spruce tree! Let me sleep at night!’ (‘Kuziine! Pasta mindai magata oks!’).

   Various (often opposite) properties were attributed to the rowan tree. Crosses made of rowan branches served as a reliable protection against evil forces. The rowan was considered a ‘fire’ tree. Clusters of mountain ash, which were decorated on the inside of the walls of the huts, were considered a means of protection from fire (according to the principle ‘like repels like’). It was forbidden to throw rowan or cherry branches into the fire. It was not allowed to drive cattle with them. Thistle, rosehip and juniper are known as hedge plants. To protect the territory where a new house would be built, builders put branches of rose hips in each corner of the first wreath. For protection from all kinds of misfortune, juniper branches were stuck in the house above the door, put in the baby's cradle, under the bride and groom's pillow on the first wedding night, in the milking can (Azovskaya, 1977. P. 143).

   Animistic beliefs are probably connected with juniper, mountain ash and bird cherry. They are reflected, for example, in the custom of the Kapshi and Southern Veps to plant a juniper bush on the grave of a baptised child or girl and decorate it with ribbons. The same groups of Veps also used to plant juniper (sometimes in combination with mountain ash and cherry) in ancient mound-like cemeteries (kamist, komist), where, according to legends, the Chud, who were regarded by the locals as their ancestors, were buried. At Easter, juniper trees in such cemeteries were decorated with ribbons (Vinokurova, 1994. P. 73).

   The Veps considered aspen to be the unclean - tree of the leshiy. They believed that the master of the forest could exchange an unbaptised child for an aspen log (Rainio, l994). One could not hide under an aspen tree during a thunderstorm. The Veps, like the Russians, had a legend that Judas hanged himself on an aspen tree.

   Veps do not have the tradition of honouring sacred groves or individual trees, so developed in a number of Baltic-Finnish and Volga-Finnish peoples (Lukkarinen, 1911-1913. S. 53; Haavio, 1961. S. 76; 1963. S. 127; Ariste, 1977. S. 155; Vladykin, 1994. С. 120-121; Toydybekova, 1997. С. 131-137). Most likely, this Vepsian tradition merged with the Orthodox tradition: it was customary to build churches and chapels in Vepsian villages in spruce or pine groves, where it was strictly forbidden to cut down trees considered sacred.

   These are, in general, the main features of the traditional worldview and beliefs of the Veps.


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