Sorcery and witchcraft in the penza region: current state of the magical tradition
- Authors: Matveeva I.A.1
-
Affiliations:
- Penza State University
- Issue: Vol 35, No 2 (2024)
- Pages: 174-191
- Section: Times. Morals. Characters
- URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/0236-2007/article/view/257180
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S0236200724020103
- ID: 257180
Open Access
Access granted
Abstract
The magical tradition, that is actually present in the villages of the Penza region, is being investigated. The presented modern expeditionary materials reveal unknown facets in the tradition of rural healing and witchcraft practices. On the basis of mythological stories, tales and reports with the bearers of the tradition, stable characteristics of healers and sorcerers of the Penza region are highlighted. One of these elements — “gift” — is seen as an excess of life force that allows the sorcerer to harm people, and the healer to heal various diseases. For the first time, a system of successive strengthening of the vitality of a healer or sorcerer is revealed. Prohibitions and restrictions, constant ritual practice, dreaming and shape-shifting are part of the system, the result of which is the strengthening of magical abilities. Particular attention is paid to mythological stories about the transformation of sorcerers and healers into a “fire serpent” — a glowball. In particular, new images and functions of the “snake” have been discovered. Thus, the glowball is an intermediate form in a series of magical transformations. The final image is associated with a person who comes into contact with a sorcerer or medicine man. The function of the “serpent” also varies — it transforms from a harmful creature into a neutral and even positive character. Consistent implementation of all elements of the magical system leads to the creation of a “superman”, simultaneously existing in the space of two “worlds” — real and mythological.
Full Text
About the authors
Irina A. Matveeva
Penza State University
Author for correspondence.
Email: redkina1983@rambler.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5351-3561
CSc in History of Arts, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Music and Methods of Teaching Music, Faculty of Pedagogy, Psychology and Social Sciences
Russian Federation, 40 Krasnaya Str., Penza 440026References
- Baiburin A.K. Ritual v traditsionnoi kul′ture [Ritual in Traditional Culture]. St. Petersburg: Nauka Publ., 1993.
- Bazlov G.N. Pover’ya ob “ognennom zmee” v Tverskoi oblasti [Beliefs About the “Fiery Serpent” in the Tver Region]. Zhivaya starina. 1996. N 4(12). P. 49–51.
- Vinogradova L.N. Narodnaya demonologiya i mifo-ritual’naya traditsiya slavyan [Folk Demonology and Mythoritual Tradition of the Slavs]. Moscow: Indrik Publ., 2000.
- Devyatkina T.P., Panfilova S.S. Obraz i funktsii Zmeya v narodnykh predstavleniyakh mordvy [The Image and Functions of the Serpent in the Folk Representations of the Mordovians]. Bulletin of the Mari State University. 2011. Vol. 15, N 1(41). P. 79–85.
- Dobrovol’skaya V.E. Narodnye predstavleniya o koldunakh v neskazochnoi proze [Folk Ideas About Sorcerers in Non-fairytale Prose]. Muzhskoi sbornik. Vyp. 1. Muzhchina v traditsionnoi kul’ture [Men’s Collection. Iss. 1. Man in Traditional Culture]. Moscow: Indrik Publ., 2001. P. 95–105.
- Dokuchaev N. Selo Boyarkino Gorodishchenskogo uezda. Istoriko-statisticheskoe opisanie [The Village of Boyarkino, Gorodishchensky District. Historical and Statistical Description]. Penzenskie eparkhial’nye vedomosti. Chast’ neofitsial’naya. 1885. N 19. P. 9–18.
- Dokuchaev N.A. Selo Vyrypaevo Saranskogo uezda Penzenskoi gubernii. Istoriko-statisticheskii ocherk [The Village of Vyrypaevo, Saransky District, Penza Province. Historical and Statistical Essay]. Penzenskie eparkhial’nye vedomosti. Chast’ neofitsial’naya. 1910. N 24. P. 1025–1031.
- Levkievskaya E.E. Znakhar’ [Witch Doctor]. Slavyanskie drevnosti. Etnolingvisticheskii slovar’: v 5 t. [Slavic Antiquities. Ethnolinguistic Dictionary: in 5 vol.]. Vol. 2. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Publ.,1999. P. 347–350.
- Levkievskaya E.E. Letayushchii zmei [Flying Serpent]. Narodnaya demonologiya Poles’ya: Publikatsii tekstov v zapisyakh 80–90-kh gg. XX veka: v 4 t. [Folk Demonology of Polesie: Publications of Texts in Records of the 80s and 90s of the 20th Century: in 4 vol.]. Vol. 4. Moscow: YASK Publ., 2020. P. 434–437.
- Mazalova N.E. “Znayusсhie” Kenozera: magicheskaya sila i “tainoe” znanie [“Knowers” of Kenozero: Magical Power and “Secret” Knowledge]. Bulletin of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University. Series: Humanities and Social Sciences. 2015. N 4. P. 16–26.
- Mazalova N.E. Russkii koldun: geroi, zlodei [Russian Sorcerer: Hero, Villain]. Proceedings of the Karelian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 2013. N 4. P. 41–49.
- Mazalova N.E. Etnograficheskie aspekty izucheniya lichnosti “znayushchego” (XIX — nachalo XX veka) [Ethnographic Aspects of Studying the Personality of the “Knower” (19th – Early 20th Century)]. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie Publ., 2011.
- Maslovsky V. O narodnom znakharstve [About Folk Medicine]. Penzenskie eparkhial’nye vedomosti. Chast’ neofitsial’naya. 1895. N 12. P. 436–450.
- Maslovsky K. Issledovaniya i materialy. Bit, obryady i pover’ya tsuranov Penzenskoi gubernii Kerenskogo uezda [Research and Materials. Life, Rituals and Beliefs of the Tsurans of the Pennza Province of the Kerensky District]. Bulletin of the Russian Geographical Society. 1859. Bk 2. P. 154–162.
- Makhmutov I.N. Traditsionnaya zashitnaya magiya kazanskikh tatar [Traditional Protective Magic of the Kazan Tatars]. Bulletin of the Magistracy. 2015. Vol. 1, N 6(45). P. 82–86.
- Ozeretsky P. O blinovskoi bogomolke, izvestnoi v narode pod imenem Polin’ki (po povodu izvestiya svyashch. Lebedeva o “sborshchike na Polin’ku”) [About the Blinovo Praying Woman, Popularly Known Under the Name of Polinka (In Connection with the News of the Priest Lebedev About the “Collector for Polinka”)]. Penzenskie eparkhial’nye vedomosti. Chast’ neofitsial’naya. 1874. N 17. P. 498–508; N 18. P. 530–539.
- Pisarenko N.A. Ognenniy zmei: obrazi fatal′noi privyazannosti v russkoi mifopoeticheskoi traditsii [The Fire Serpent: Images of Fatal Attachment in the Russian Mythopoetical Tradition]. Psikhologicheskie i psikhoanaliticheskie issledovaniya. Ezhegodnik 2012–2013 [Psychological and Psychoanalytic Studies. Yearbook 2012–2013], ed. by V.M. Leibin. Moscow: Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis Publ., 2013. P. 337–348.
- Popovkina G.S. Znakhari i znakharstvo u vostochnykh slavyan yuga Dal’nego Vostoka Rossii [Healers and Witchcraft Among the Eastern Slavs of the South of the Russian Far East]. Vladivostok: Dal′nauka Publ., 2008.
- Rusinova I.I. Leksika koldovstva, znakharstva, russkikh mifologicheskikh tekstov kak osobaya ideograficheskaya sfera: kompleksnoe issledovanie: dis. ... d-ra filol. nauk [Vocabulary of Witchcraft, Нealing, Russian Mythological Texts As a Special Ideographic Sphere: A Comprehensive Study: Diss. ... DSc, Рhilology]. Perm’: Perm State National Research University Publ., 2022.
- Smirnov N. Sueveriya prostogo naroda i bor′ba s nimi pastyrei [Superstitions of the Common People and the Struggle of Pastors Against Them]. Penzenskie eparkhial’nye vedomosti. Chast’ neofitsial’naya. 1882. N 24. P. 4–10.
- Tikhomirov F. Tikhaya voda (sluchai iz praktiki derevenskoi znakharki) [Quiet Water (A Case from the Practice of a Village Healer)]. Penzenskie eparkhial’nye vedomosti. Chast’ neofitsial’naya. 1877. N 16. P. 639–657.
- Tolstaya S.M. Obraz mira v tekste i rituale [The Image of the World in Text and Ritual]. Moscow: Russkii fond sodeistviya obrazovaniyu i nauke Publ., 2015.
- Khristoforova O.B. Kolduny i zhertvy: antropologiya koldovstva v sovremennoi Rossii [Sorcerers and Victims: An Anthropology of Witchcraft in Contemporary Russia]. Moscow: Ob”edinennoe gumanitarnoe izdatel’stvo Publ., 2010.
