“Mansi Mythology. Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies”

The Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies offers a basis for the study of the roots and present character of Finno-Ugrian and Samoyedic ethnic religions, mythologies and folklore. Mythology is understood here in the broad sense, including not only myths proper but also the field of ethnic religion, by including beliefs and connected rituals, magic practices and their specialists. The volumes offer information about the people in question and give reference lists for basic scientific works and archives. The central part of each volume is the dictionary of mythological terms for the tradition concerned. An index of mythical concepts is added to each volume.

This book introduces the readers to the mythological traditions of the Mansi (Voguls) and aims to give an idea of their world-view created over the course of centuries. The Mansi belong, with the Khanty (Ostyaks) and Samoyeds, to the indigenous peoples of Nortwest Siberia. The nearest linguistic relatives of the Ob-Ugrians (Mansi and Khanty) are Hungarians living in central Europe. The rich culture of the Mansi provides valuable materials for research on language and mythology.

The introduction to Mansi Mythology contains two parts. The first part is devoted to a summary of Mansi history in the second millennium AD, to the description of the main traditional ways of life of the Mansi, and to the problem of the adaptation of the people to the circumstances of socioeconomic change at the end of the twentieth century. The second part describes the essential points of the Mansi worldview and reveal the main principles of the construction of a mythological system.

The mythological system is reflected in myths and epic poetry. To illuminate Mansi mythic poetry, the editors of The Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies have added a selection of Mansi poems to the end of the volume.

The editors-in-cief of the Encyclopaedia are Professor Anna-Leena Siikala (Helsinki University), Dr. Mihaly Hoppal (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) and Professor Valdimir Napolskikh (Udmurt State University).