About the Results of a Trip to the Selkup Porg at the Parusovye Lakes

The article describes the results of the author's trip to Selkup Porg - the image of the spirit on the tree, located on the fishing grounds on the river. Sailing, the right tributary of the middle Taz. The results of the trip include the scientific fixation of the monument and the ritual of feeding the spirit, as well as a number of conclusions drawn from the analysis of the collected material. The most important discovery of the study was the identification of a female spirit carved in a porg with the main Selkup deity, the Old Woman Ilyntyl Kota, described in detail in the works of E.D. Prokofieva, after which the Porg received a detailed characterization and a visualization of the divine Old Woman in a sculptural image. Moreover, the Porg of the Parusovs is her only verified image to date. The trip to the Porg confirmed that the belief in spirits and their magical power is still alive among the Selkups. However, changes were noted in relation to this spirit. Since the Old Woman depicted on the Porg is the mistress of all the Earth, all people living on Earth can look at her, make offerings to her, and ask her for protection and help, according to the Guardian. In the Selkup tradition, there was no such broad interpretation of the group of people who have access to the Porg, so this phenomenon is due to an innovation. The study has revealed the fact, still unknown to science, that the burial of the house spirits of three Selkup clans under a Porg tree provides a probable explanation.

Selkups, traditional worldview, images of spirits on a tree, the ritual of feeding spirits, transformations of traditional culture, innovations