Wednesday, March 25, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Khanty
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Texts
Biblical Texts from the Ahlqvist CollectionSix biblical narratives, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles' Creed in North Khanty — translated into the Berezov dialect by Simeon Morochov in 1877 and published by August Ahlqvist in 1880. The earliest extensive prose in the Khanty language, showing how Ob-Ugric cosmology absorbed and transformed Near Eastern Christian narrative. First English translation.Folk Tales from the Ahlqvist CollectionFive North Khanty folk tales from August Ahlqvist's 1880 fieldwork on the Ob and Irtysh rivers: an underground spirit wife, a forest devil's daughters, a man who defeats a devil by cunning, a witch who swallows hunters, and a boy who finds treasure in a tree. First English translations from German.Riddles from the Ahlqvist CollectionFifty-three riddles of the North Khanty people, recorded in the Berezov dialect by Simeon Morochov and published by August Ahlqvist in 1880. They encode the entire Khanty world: river ice, reindeer herds, cedar forests, bear dens, spinning thread, the Ob in winter. First English translation from German.Song for Waking the BearAn Eastern Khanty bear ceremony song in which the singer addresses the bear, waking its spirit for the sacred feast. Recorded by K. F. Karjalainen in the village of Tremjugan on the Ob River, Western Siberia, 10 December 1899. First English translation from Khanty.Song for Waking the Bear IIA second Eastern Khanty bear ceremony song — an extended bear-waking in which the bear rises, is dressed by the goddess-mother, steps outside to watch the wrestlers, then returns to the sacred corner to watch the young people dance. Recorded by K. F. Karjalainen at Tremjugan, Western Siberia, 1899–1901. First English translation from Khanty.Songs from the Ahlqvist CollectionFour personal songs of the North Khanty from August Ahlqvist's 1880 collection: a reindeer herder blessed by God, a mother whose children have all died, a man who lost his herds to plague, and a woman who thrives after being abandoned by her husband. First English translation from German.Songs of the Bear Feast from LikrisovoFour Eastern Khanty bear ceremony songs from the village of Likrisovo on the Ob River — a bear-feast song, two hunter's songs, and a song to the Fire Goddess. Collected by K. F. Karjalainen during his fieldwork among the Eastern Khanty, 1898–1901. First English translations from Khanty.The Prince's Bear-Feast SongThe first of a hundred mythical songs — a Khanty creation myth and hunting epic performed at the bear feast. The song begins with the Sky God lowering seven sons on a golden rope to the waters of the earth, a spotted nutcracker dropping a pine cone that becomes the first island, and the Golden Prince establishing the Khanty way of life: hunting sable and squirrel through the short autumn, building a raft of bark-bared trees, and floating downstream to the crane-trodden crossing of two rivers to trade furs for silk with Griška's son Romeńka. Recorded by K. F. Karjalainen in the village of Tremjugan on the Ob River, Western Siberia, 9/22 December 1899. First English translation from Eastern Khanty.