The naming ceremony in the heroic stories of shors

The article deals with the naming ritual in the epic tales of Shors recorded by N. P. Dyrenkova, A. I. Chudojakov, L. N. Arbachakova, and Shors' narrators; some have not been published yet. The naming ceremony is one of the most important poetic and mythological motifs in all traditional oral cultures; it is associated with initiation. In folklore, it is treated as one of the so-called "epic formulas" or “commonplaces” as a standardized form of expression for folkloric motifs. Using descriptive and comparative methods, we have shown the general structure of the naming ceremony and its variability depending on the gender of the epic character and its role in the epic narrative. The article also describes the manifestations of naming an epic hero and his inner divine status. Special attention was paid to the linguistic representation of the naming ceremony and the epic formulas used. In the heroic stories of the Shors, the name of an epic hero has a great symbolic effect; the one who gives him a name is highly respected and honored. An epic hero is born miraculously. The boy (rarely a girl) grows very fast and gains all his power in just a few hours or days after an epic sleep. When he awakens, his parents or other close relatives send him to the coast or a mountain's steps to receive a name. They give him a drink to take to the person who will do the naming. Only if he has a heroic name can he fight the invaders, perform other glorious deeds or find a bride. The naming ceremony of the Shors consists of several parts: The child leaves the parental palace and goes to the place of the ceremony, he calls for a person who will give him a name, the name-giver comes, receives the drinks brought by the boy, announces the name and the blessing, the name-giver disappears and returns to his palace. During the naming ceremony, the name is first given to the epic hero's horse and only then to himself, followed by blessings and good wishes for him and his horse to be invincible and overcome all obstacles.

Shors stories, heroes, epics, naming ceremony, blessings, epic characters (alyp)