Пространство и время в алтайской этнософии

Международный журнал исследований культуры. 2024. № 3(56). С. 65–80.

Malinov A. V.

The article considers examples of modern mythologised representations of space and time on the material of the Altai Republic. It notes the wide use of the traditional calendar, combining the 12-year cycle with the phases of the moon and reflecting cosmocentric ideas; negative assessment of modernity as intertemporal; general orientation of ethnosophical consciousness to the past; comparison of mythical time with temporal characteristics of the epic. The sacralisation of space corresponds to mythological notions of the world tree, world mountain, etc., dating back to the Archaic and Scythian eras, i.e. universal for many cultures notions. The authors analyse legislative initiatives related to the discussion of the law on sacred places in Altai, which should legally enshrine bans on certain types of activities in the territory of the republic. In particular, to prohibit or restrict archaeological excavations. The authors point out the mythologised argumentation, close to the New Age neo-pagan movement, used by supporters of the adoption of the law on sacred places. It is noted that the issue of sacred landscapes is politicised (Gorny Altai should retain the status of a federal subject not because of its economic self-sufficiency, but because of its ‘sacredness’, its special cultic purpose), and the actual equation of sacredness and the titular ethnos. By means of the law on sacred places they try to justify the uniqueness of the titular ethnos (Altaians) and its special mission. Attention is drawn to the fact of alternative indigenous ethnicity, which resulted from the recognition of the Kumandins, Chelkans, Tubalars and Telengits as small indigenous peoples. The struggle for the ‘unity of the Altai people’ is not only a struggle to preserve the status of the republic, but also a rivalry for sacredness. It is concluded that the cultivation of mythological ideas about space and time testify to the archaisation of life in the region and reflect isolationist and nationalist tendencies in society.

Keywords: Altai, Алтай, mythological thinking, мифологическое мышление, сакральный ландшафт, ethnosophy, этнософия, mythological time, epic time, alternative ethnicity, sacral landscape, мифологическое время, эпическое время, альтернативная этничность