Myths about Yumynudyr ("heavenly maiden") in Mari mythology and Ritual: an attempt at a source and structural analysis

The subject of the article is the sources and content of myths about Yumynudyr ("heavenly maiden") in Mari mythology and ritual. The article is a continuation of a previously published work that examined the reliability of information about this key image of Mari mythology, as well as the problem of its divine status.The purpose of the research is a source-based and structural analysis of the myths about the Yuminudyr in order to reconstruct the main semantic links of the original tradition, as well as systematize data on the cult of the "heavenly maiden". To achieve this goal, it was necessary not only to identify the sources of the Yumynudyr myth, but also to identify the most significant thematic and plot motifs in the existing texts, to analyze the rituals associated with Yumynudyr and the image of Piambar close to her. In the course of solving the tasks set, the author of the article used a number of methods: source studies, structural analysis. In addition to analyzing ethnographic literature and folklore collections, field research materials were also used to supplement and clarify existing information about the Yumynudyr. The novelty of the research is the systematization of all information available in the literature about Yumynudyr, the analysis of the little-known myth of May, the daughter of the Mari goddess Shochyn Ava, as well as a comprehensive analysis of texts mentioning the "heavenly virgin", "daughter of God". This made it possible to continue the most promising research of a specialist on the topic, Yu.A. Kaliev, to identify the seven main links of the legend of Yumynudyr, to arrange them in a logical and chronological (according to a hypothetical macro plot) sequence. In addition, based on the field material being introduced into scientific circulation, the accuracy of the details previously recorded by the researchers on the issue of interest to us was confirmed, as well as a more meaningful and systematic and consistent examination of the cult of the "heavenly virgin" for the first time in ethnographic science: to highlight the most significant holidays, rituals associated with the images of Yumynudyr and Piambar.

Heavenly maiden, goddess, plot of the myth, motif, religious worship, image, sacred marriage, overthrow of the deity, sacrifice, ritual