Читать книгу Geser. The Вuryat heroic epic - Ye. Khundaeva - Страница 12

The epic shows that the traditional occupation of the Buryats was hunting, then cattlebreeding. The battles with the epical personages that were quite often the embodiments of the powerful natural forces, for example, Gal-Nurman who personified the prime element of the Fire, played a big part in the life of the Buryats. Before the description of the battle the epic-tellers gave a detailed account of the clothes, weapon and armour of the heroes. A good place in the life of the people was given to the tournaments, for example when matchmaking. After a successful matchmaking they had a big feast, which lasted nine days, on the tenth day the guests went home.

When people met they had a long friendly talk so that “the foam came out on the water, the grass grew on the stone”. The epic gives a detailed description of the dwelings of the Вuryats, i.e. the straw-huts, yurts, wooden and stone houses that evidences of the evolution of the epic itself. This all is the background against which the epical scenes are laid. From them one can draw some knowledge concerning the habits, customs and traditions of the Mongolian people, including the Buryats.

In the early morning they get up, they are not in the habit of staying in bed for a long time because a lot of work to be done is usually ahead. Their bedding is very soft, sometimes of the fur of the sable, they compare it with the lungs of animals. All that is soft, nice, luxurious is associated on the physical level with the lungs of animals. Then they have their tea, when eating they discuss their home affairs and news.

Each variant of the epopee reflects the evolution of the epic that proceeded along with the development of the community it narrates about. The higher is the social development, the more rich and artistic is the epic, its composition, language and style. Given in the text are the many habits and customs which survived or are somewhat forgotten. The guests were invited to get seated in the western or right-hand side of the yurt which was believed to be the most honorary place in the dwelling, its door being most often in the southern part. This is accounted for by the following circumstances. There was a dynamic balance between the dual natural oppositions, i.e. between the right and the left, the anterior (front) and the posterior (rear, back) side of the space, the male and the female half of the community, the good and the evil, strength and weakness, white and black, etc. The front or the anterior right-hand space orientations were regarded as male, light, active, positive whereas the back or posterior, left-hand space orientations were considered to be female, dark, passive, negative. The yurt was divided into the right-hand (male) and left-hand (female) halves, men took seats in the right-hand side, women on the left-hand side. A glass with a drink was given with the right hand and all the meaningful gestures were made with that hand. In the epic they invite their guests: “Please, get seated higher” which means to take seats in the right-hand (western) side of the dwelling, i.e. in the honorary place.

The people in the epic address each other ceremoniously, with the highest esteem. They are friendly and hospitable. They treat their guests to whatever is good in their home. The Buryats are very careful about their home.

In the old days as well as not infrequently nowadays there was a tradition of the respectful attitude towards the man as the embodiment of all that is positive. He was the personification of the head of the kinsfolk, therefore it was strictly forbidden to step over a man or his belt, sash. This is depicted in the epic when one of the girls reproaches her girl-friends because they stepped over a sleeping old man. She says: “You stepped over an old man, thus you broke the women’s custom” and herself goes round him avoiding stepping over the man. When the devils – albins were going to harm Geser they stepped nine times over the food they had prepared for him. There was also a strict regulation not to bring home any meat at night for it was fraught with the negative consequences. This might be related to the prohibition to kill the wild animals at night for one could miss and hit, say, a she-deer or a she-goat or just simply mistake them for a male-animal in darkness.

A good talk was of importance. They talked with respect and dignity, carefully selecting the right words. They went to see each other, to have a hearty talk душевный разговор. The Buryats always kept a good meal for the guest. That was commonly dry curd, milk skin, cottage cheese, pancakes, sweets and hot dishes like boiled meat, clear soup and the like.

The personages of the epic are very tender to their horse, they treat it as a true friend and devoted companion. They get mounted on the horse with the exacting movements as if completing a kind of ritual.

In case one makes some mistake or is guilty there is no excuse. He is heavily punished just as he deserves.

The Buryats are very tender towards their children. If a family did not have any children the Buryats were greatly sorry for such people and sympathetic with them. They did want them to have at least one child to continue the lineage. Thus if a family with no children asked for one they were never refused. The families with several children gave one of their sons or daughters to a childless family, they did it with no regret for they were quite sure that their child would grow up in very good conditions. The two families kept good relations and were respectful towards each other. Sometimes a child was given to the relatives if his/her parents were not well-to-do and had no opportunity to provide him with all needed. Thus there were very few orphans or beggars.

The Buryats treated their routine work with great diligence. The epic says that the worth of man is in his doings, the worth of woman is in her sewing. Good attitude to one’s work and duties was inseparable from the Buryats since childhood. Life itself prompted them to be hardworking people, or else they would not survive. The Buryats wanted their children to be modest enough and restrained. They taught them not to shout out, not to cry out his/her mind when not asked to, not to talk too quickly as if saying a tongue-twister, not to laugh too loudly showing the teeth. They taught the young people to be restrained.

The Buryats were always ready to give a rebuff to the enemy, to fight him if the necessity arose. But despite their being quite ready to rebuff if necessary. The Mongolian tribes as well as the other people in the world strived to peace and quiet life without any battles, without shedding blood. They took up their swords only when there was a need to safeguard the motherland and strengthen the status of the kin.

They were ecologically-minded, loved their native place and took care of it. This is evidenced by the following episode. The epic narrates of Loir Khara Lobsogoldoi, Geser’s enemy. He was taken as the embodiment of such prime element as water. Having defeated Lobsogoldoi Geser tells not to kill him for otherwise the vegetation would not grow without water. One can understand that he did that because he was devoted to his motherland, he was anxious that the Nature should flourish.

The epic gives much material for discussing the traditions of the Buryat people. Besides the traditions mentioned above there is much material on suit before the marriage. There were the tournaments, trials, seeing off and meeting a bride. There also were the various methods for killing a sheep for donation. There were some prescriptions for organizing the feasts, games, dancing in circle, for holding the tayilgans (a religious ceremony, festival) and the rituals like purifying, telling the fortune, smudging, offerings, invocation, etc.

All the habits, customs and traditions of the Buryat people are generous, benevolent. They disapprove of the unworthy deeds. The Buryat people are careful and scrupulous about the children, loving towards their native land and nature.

Naturally there is no marked development of the images in the epic. Most often the characters are either positive or negative. Our attention is focused now on the main character. The whole narration is concentrated around the main personage, i.e. Geser.

Having analyzed the situation Geser usually takes up the most complicated problems to solve, he is sufficiently confident of himself. Geser respects the elder people, obeys the decisions of the council of the Tengris, he is tolerant of some of their mistakes and weakness. In spite of his divine origin Geser is humane, he does not like the idea of being singled out, rather he would live the way the other people do, though he never forgets about his true designation.

Geser is a magician possessing the supersensitive abilities but he never boasts of it. The people like and respect Geser. He is industrious, possesses good skills for practical life, he is above all a good warrior. Geser is kind and open- handed, he is just and follows his principles. He can also control the atmospheric phenomena.

Geser is one of the sons of Khormusta tengri, residing in the Heaven, the highest sphere of the Universe. When there came the time of trouble and misfortune upon the Earth Geser was designed to descend to the Middle sphere (the Earth) to struggle against the evil and complete his mission of salvation of the people. He was born on the Earth an ugly (некрасивый) child, this is accounted for by the necessity for him to survive, it was kind of protection against the evil forces, the spirits and the like. When he was a child one of his names was Bukhe-Beligte (strong and gifted). Since childhood he was noted for his unusual gifts. He committed good deeds, displaying the magic abilities which helped him in doing good things. When he grows up he turns into a strong, well-built, handsome bator.

The three cosmic spheres are in his power. His origin is in the Sky, among the divinities. He lives on the Earth. He goes down to the Water kingdom, he establishes the ties with its Lord having married his daughter. Geser performs his deeds for the sake of the people, for their well-being and happiness.