The article presents the Tuvan views on vital energy, illness and death, in a visual representation of shamanic mythology. It describes the views on human vitality as a key concept covering the idea of human illness and death. In Tuvan culture, the concept of vitality is expressed through the words tyn, kut, and sunesin. Although the word sunesin is the most common in the last stages of evacuation of life, there were also words like kut and tyn used in texts from the 1970s. Signs of loss of vitality have been identified which can help recognize a person who has lost sunesin: poor physical well-being such as drowsiness, lack of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, and so on. The child was noted to be tearful, lethargic, sleepless and had a decreased appetite. People who had such signs were advised, among others, to turn to ritual specialists – shamans and lamas, who could perform rituals to invoke or capture the strength and growth of children who had passed away. The stories told by shamans, describe life force as a kind of “visible” substance that can only to be seen by the vision of magical specialists. The traditional Tuvan ideas about human illness and death are directly related to the vital forces in the human body. It has been revealed that in order to maintain vitality, it is necessary to observe the regimes of belief and prohibition that regulate human behavior. Failure to follow these prohibitions may lead to illness or even death.
Key words: mythological views of Tuvans, human vitality, signs of loss of vitality, self-foe, ritual specialists, human illness and death mythological views of Tuvans, human vitality, signs of loss of vitality, self-foe, ritual specialists, human illness and death
DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662-2024-4-99-106
About the author
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Zhanna M. Yusha – Dr. Sci (Philology), Leading Research Fellow, Department of Ethnography of Siberia, Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography Peter the Great (Kunstkamera) RAS; 3 Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |