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Studies in Cheremis: The Supernatural
Mari (European people) -- Folklore.
Supernatural.
Supernatural.
357 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1956
10 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Albert Sebeok
121 books8 followersThomas Albert Sebeok or Sebők was a prominent linguist and semiotician, and editor-in-chief of the leading periodical in the field, Semiotica, from its 1969 founding until 2001. He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1945. He is counted among the originators of the field of biosemiotics, and was highly influential in the study of non-human signaling and communication systems.
Sebeok was survived by his wife (and frequent co-author), Jean Umiker-Sebeok
Sebeok was survived by his wife (and frequent co-author), Jean Umiker-Sebeok
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May 15, 2015
In the 1940s and 1950s, Thomas A. Sebeok at Indiana University Bloomington produced a number of works on the Mari people and their language. This particular one, written in collaboration with Frances J. Ingemann, aims to provide an overview of Mari religious and magical beliefs. The authors were fortunate to make the acquaintance of Ivan Jevsky, an Eastern Mari who fought for the Soviet Army in Germany in World War II, then found himself in the American zone as the war came to an end. He decided to come to the USA as a displaced person, and for the first time ever, American scholars had the chance to work with a native Mari informant.
One of the amusing aspects of this book is that since it was produced – like many 1950s American publications in Soviet areal studies – with funding from the Department of the Air Force, Sebeok & Ingemann quickly rattle off some factoids that seem more useful for planning an invasion than documenting Mari religious ritual: power plants in the Birsk region, quality of roads and other infrastructure, the relationship between Mari peasants and regional Soviet authorities, and the geographical coordinates of key sites.
After that introduction on both Jevsky’s Eastern Mari region and the informant himself, the book consists of three main parts. The first is an exhaustive listing of Mari supernatural beings; as animists, the Mari believe in several hundred spirits ranging from mighty gods to humble tree or stone spirits, and here they are catalogued and cross-referenced. The second part is a structuralist analysis of Mari dream portents, charms, and prayers. Finally, the third part, titled “The Texture of Religious Life” dedicates a few pages to the impact of Russian Orthodox Christianity on the Mari, but mainly this part consists of a history and critical examination of the Kugu Sorta movement which was a major force in the Mari national movement from the late 19th century to the 1930s. As an appendix, Felix J. Oinas provides etymologies for the Russian loanwords used within Mari spirituality.
The bibliography lists all the major works on the Mari by Russian, Finnish and Hungarian scholars to date, so Sebeok synthesized a great deal of earlier research as well as the information he drew from Ivan Jevsky. The only real downside of the book is that the dream portents are provided only in English translation, not in the original Mari, but still this is an important book for anyone interested in the Mari, whether linguists like myself or ethnographers researching Mari religiosity over time.
One of the amusing aspects of this book is that since it was produced – like many 1950s American publications in Soviet areal studies – with funding from the Department of the Air Force, Sebeok & Ingemann quickly rattle off some factoids that seem more useful for planning an invasion than documenting Mari religious ritual: power plants in the Birsk region, quality of roads and other infrastructure, the relationship between Mari peasants and regional Soviet authorities, and the geographical coordinates of key sites.
After that introduction on both Jevsky’s Eastern Mari region and the informant himself, the book consists of three main parts. The first is an exhaustive listing of Mari supernatural beings; as animists, the Mari believe in several hundred spirits ranging from mighty gods to humble tree or stone spirits, and here they are catalogued and cross-referenced. The second part is a structuralist analysis of Mari dream portents, charms, and prayers. Finally, the third part, titled “The Texture of Religious Life” dedicates a few pages to the impact of Russian Orthodox Christianity on the Mari, but mainly this part consists of a history and critical examination of the Kugu Sorta movement which was a major force in the Mari national movement from the late 19th century to the 1930s. As an appendix, Felix J. Oinas provides etymologies for the Russian loanwords used within Mari spirituality.
The bibliography lists all the major works on the Mari by Russian, Finnish and Hungarian scholars to date, so Sebeok synthesized a great deal of earlier research as well as the information he drew from Ivan Jevsky. The only real downside of the book is that the dream portents are provided only in English translation, not in the original Mari, but still this is an important book for anyone interested in the Mari, whether linguists like myself or ethnographers researching Mari religiosity over time.
Displaying 1 of 1 review