Маскулинные, фемининные и андрогинные характеристики героев и образов гор в тувинском  фольклоре

Улжан Есеновна Мусабекова; Нурсулу Жамалбековна Шаймерденова; Динара Азреталиевна Худайбердина

doi:10.25178/nit.2026.1.4

Authors

Ulzhan E. Musabekova Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Nursulu Zh. Shaimerdenova Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Dinara A. Khudaiberdina Al-Farabi Kazakh National University https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6352-110X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2026.1.4

Keywords:

Tuvans, Tuvan folklore, masculine, feminine, androgynous, mountain, mountain cult, legend, heroic tale

Abstract

The article analyzes aspects of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny in the characteristics of heroes and images of mountains in Tuvan folklore. The study is based on an analysis of texts of Tuvan myths, legends, heroic tales (“Khunan-Kara” and “Boktug-Kirish and Bora-Sheley”), and draws on a wide range of ethnographic, mythological, and folkloric sources.

By systematizing the principal common images and functions of mountains in Tuvan folklore, the authors identify and structure those semantic complexes that reflect traditional models of male and female behavior, as well as manifestations of androgyny in the plots, archetypes, and ritual practices of the Tuvans. The authors examine how masculine features (strength, dominance, protection) and feminine aspects (ordering, care, fertility) are expressed both in anthropomorphic heroes and in the symbolic narrative functions of the mountains themselves.

Attention is paid to the ways in which androgynous qualities of characters are formed in epic poetry, oral narratives, and ritual verse—namely, the overcoming of the dichotomy of the masculine and the feminine, the syncretism of qualities, and the presence of mediating figures. The article also addresses the dynamics of gender representations in the context of the interaction between archaic and shamanic layers and contemporary transformations, revealing the role of mountains as spaces for the formation and reproduction of gender identity in the Tuvan cultural sphere.

Thus, the study makes it possible not only to reconsider established views on the role of the mountain in ethnic consciousness, but also to propose an original perspective for the study of folkloric gender stereotypes and their artistic and symbolic transformation.

References

Abaeva, L. L.(1992) Cult of Mountains and Buddhism in Buryatia (Evolution of Beliefs and Cults of the Selenga Buryats). Moscow, Nauka. 141 p. (In Russ.)

Aminev, Z. G.(2011) Echoes of the cult of mountains among the Bashkirs. In: The Republic of Khakassia as a Subject of the Russian Federation: Proceedings of the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference Dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of the Republic of Khakassia (23–24 June 2011). Editorial board: V. I. Tsyganok et al. Abakan, Tekhnopark Printing House LLC. 384 p. Pp. 269–277. (In Russ.)

Ayizhy, L. V. and Bazyrchap, A. O.(2014) History of the study of the cult of nature among the Tuvans in the pre-revolutionary period. Vestnik Chuvashskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta im. I. Ya. Yakovleva, no. 1, pp. 3–11. (In Russ.)

Baisklan, S. M.(1987) Poetics of the Tuvan Heroic Epic. Kyzyl, Tuvan Book Publishing House. 72 p. (In Russ.)

Bazyrchap, A.-Kh. O. and Kongu, A. A.(2020) Beliefs about evil spirits among the Tuvans. Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology, vol. 19, no.3, Archaeology and Ethnography, pp. 134–146. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2020-19-3-134-146

Vainshtein, S. I.(1991) The World of Nomads of Central Asia. Moscow, Nauka. 296 p. (In Russ.)

Vasiliev, V. E.(2017) The origins of Tengrianism: from the cult of mountains to the cult of Heaven. Severo-Vostochnyi gumanitarnyi vestnik, no. 2 (19), pp. 40–48. (In Russ.)

Vladimirova, T. E. (2023) On myths, legends and traditions of Tuva from the standpoint of metalinguistics. Sibirskii filologicheskii zhurnal, no. 4, pp. 35–48. (In Russ.)

Gaisina, F. F. (2018) The cult of the mountain in Bashkir folklore. Sovremennaya nauka: aktualnye problemy teorii i praktiki. Series: Gumanitarnye nauki, no. 9, pp. 104–108. (In Russ.)

Grebnev, L. V.(1960) The Tuvan Heroic Epic. Moscow, Publishing House of Oriental Literature. 148 p. (In Russ.)

Groshovkina, N. A. (2015) Gender potential of androgyny. Vestnik Voronezhskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Series: Filosofiya, no. 4 (18), pp. 123–129. (In Russ.)

Igissinova, A. and Mamyrkhanova, Z. (2023) Stereotypes of masculinity in Kazakh culture. Eurasian Journal of Philology. Science and Education, vol. 191, no. 3, pp. 13–21. (In Russ.)

Ismailov, G. M.(2017) Linguocultural study of gender stereotype in Turkic phraseology (based on Uzbek, Kazakh and Karakalpak languages). Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Series: Voprosy obrazovaniya: yazyki i spetsialnost, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 85–92. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-8011-2017-14-1-85-92

Katash, S.(1978) Myths and Legends of the Altai Mountains (Myths, Legends, Traditions, Blessings). Gorno-Altaysk, Gorno-Altai Branch of the Altai Book Publishing House. 112 p. (In Russ.)

Kirilina, A. V. (1999) Gender: Linguistic Aspects. Moscow, Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 189 p. (In Russ.)

Knorozova, E. Yu. (2016) The theme of androgyny in traditional religious and mythological beliefs of the Vietnamese. Vestnik Novosibirskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Series: Istoriya, filologiya, vol. 15, no. 10, pp. 62–67. (In Russ.)

Kolyagiin, D. (2021) On the cultural heritage of the Turks in Mongolia and its protection. Byulleten Kalmytskogo nauchnogo tsentra RAN, no. 1, pp. 54–65. (In Russ.)

Konunov, A. A. (2010) Reflection of the cult of mountains in Altai heroic tales. Mirovozzrenie naseleniya Yuzhnoi Sibiri i Tsentralnoi Azii v istoricheskoi retrospektive, no. 4, pp. 335–341. (In Russ.)

Kuular, D. S. (1959) On Tuvan legends and traditions. Uchenye zapiski TNIYALI, issue 7. Kyzyl, s. n. Pp. 134–142. (In Russ.)

Kuular, D. S. (2002) History and Modernity. Collection of Works on Folklore and Literature. Kyzyl, Tuvan Book Publishing House. 144 p. (In Russ.)

Lamazhaa, Ch. K. (2025) The Turkic cultural world of Russia: loci, problems and prospects of study. New Research of Tuva, no. 3, pp. 371–388. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2025.3.22

Lamazhaa, Ch. K., Suvandii, N. D. and Mongush, A. V. (2023) The sacred in Tuvan culture: past and present. New Research of Tuva, no. 3, pp. 220–241. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2023.3.14

Limorenko, Yu. V. (2016) Publication of non-fairy-tale prose in the series “Monuments of Folklore of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East”: methods and principles. Yazyki i fol’klor korennykh narodov Sibiri, no. 2(31), pp. 11–15. (In Russ.)

Lvova, S. D. (2021) Comparisons in Yakut and Tuvan epics: common and specific features. New Research of Tuva, no. 1, pp. 202–216. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2021.1.11

Mizhit, L. S. (2009) Triple images in the mythology and folklore of the Tuvans. New Research of Tuva, no. 4, pp. 173–188. (In Russ.)

Mizhit, E. B. (2011) Traditional cosmology in the Tuvan heroic epic. Rossiiskaya tyurkologiya, no. 1(4), pp. 78–81. (In Russ.)

Mongush, A. M. (2019) The man in gender interactions in traditional Tuvan society. Genesis: istoricheskie issledovaniya, no. 6, pp. 19–26. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.25136/2409-868X.2019.6.30122

Mongush, A. M. (2021) Features of the transformation of the role of men in Tuvan society. Izvestiya Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Series Geoarkheologiya. Etnologiya. Antropologiya, vol. 36, pp. 37–49. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2021.36.37

Musabekova, U. A. (2016) The image of women in myth, folklore and Turkic literature (based on Turkic culture). Vestnik Tambovskogo universiteta. Series Filologicheskie nauki i kul’turologiya, vol. 2, no. 4 (8), pp. 35–41. (In Russ.)

Ondar, M. V., Koshkendei, I. M. and Khomushku, Ch. O.(2018) Toponyms in Tuvan folklore (based on heroic epics and folk songs). New Research of Tuva, no. 3, pp. 53–68. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2018.3.4

Orus-ool, S. M. (2001) Tuvan Heroic Tales. Moscow, MAKS Press. 422 p. (In Russ.)

Orus-ool, S. M. (2011) On Tuvan folkloristics: main directions of development. Rossiiskaya tyurkologiya, no. 1 (4), pp. 53–62. (In Russ.)

Orynbekov, M. S. (2013) Genesis of Religiosity in Kazakhstan. 2nd ed., rev. and enl. Almaty, Institute of Philosophy, Political Science and Religious Studies of the Committee of Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 204 p. (In Russ.)

Potapov, L. P. (1946) The cult of mountains in the Altai. Sovetskaya etnografiya, no. 2, pp. 145–160. (In Russ.)

Vdovin, I. S.(ed.)(1976) Nature and Man in the Religious Beliefs of the Peoples of Siberia and the North (Second Half of the 19th — Early 20th Century). Leningrad, Nauka, Leningrad Branch. 336 p. (In Russ.)

Rozova, K. E. (2014) Mountain spirits in the tradition of the Turks of Southern Siberia: pragmatic characteristics of myth and ritual. Vestnik RGGU. Series: Literaturovedenie. Yazykoznanie. Kul’turologiya, no. 6, pp. 194–211. (In Russ.)

Sagalaev, A. M. (1992) Altai in the Mirror of Myth. Novosibirsk, Nauka, Siberian Branch. 176 p. (In Russ.)

Samdan, Z. B. (2003) Tuvan myths and fairy tales: system of images and poetic-stylistic features. Gumanitarnye nauki v Sibiri, no. 3, pp. 95–102. (In Russ.)

Samdan, Z. B. (2011) Selected Works: Tuvan Verbal Art: Myth — Fairy Tale — Literature. Abakan, Journalist JSC. 291 p. (In Russ.)

Samdan, Z. B. (2012) Myth in the system of the performing tradition of Tuvan narrative folklore. Vestnik Buryatskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, no. 10, pp. 204–209. (In Russ.)

Semenov, A. V. (2010) Mountain sanctuaries of Tuva. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Istoriya, no. 4, pp. 140–146. (In Russ.)

Tairova, Z. Sh. (2017) Gender ideals in Crimean Tatar folklore: an androgynous personality type. Innovatsionnaya nauka, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 234–236. (In Russ.)

Toktarova, T. Zh. (2016) Cultural imperatives in folklore: gender aspect. Nauchnoe obozrenie. Pedagogicheskie nauki, no. 1, pp. 63–65. (In Russ.)

Toporov, V. N. (2014) Mythology. Articles for Mythological Encyclopedias: in 2 vols. Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskoi kul’tury; Znak. Vol. 1. 600 p. (In Russ.)

Tursonov, E. D. (2001) Origins of Turkic Folklore. Almaty, Daik-Press. 167 p. (In Russ.)

Tkhagapsoev, Kh. G. (2022) Development of gender studies on an ethnocultural basis: problems and prospects. Polilingvialnost i transkul’turnye praktiki, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 308–321. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.22363/2618-897X-2022-19-2-308-321

Urmankheev, F. I. (2015) Turkic Heroic Epic: Comparative-Historical Essays. Kazan, G. Ibragimov Institute of Language, Literature and Art of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan. 448 p. (In Russ.)

Dal Zovo, C. (2019) Sacred mountains, ancestors, and power: origin and development of the veneration of Burkhan Khaldun mountain in the Mongol Empire. In: Bazarov B. V., Kradin N. N. (eds) Nomadic Empires of Eurasia in the Light of Archaeological and Interdisciplinary Research: Collection of Scientific Articles of the 4th International Congress of Medieval Archaeology of the Eurasian Steppes, Dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of Russian Academic Archaeology (Ulan-Ude, 16–21 September 2019): in 2 books. Ulan-Ude, Publishing House of the Buryat Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Book 2. 182 p. Pp. 132–135.