Saturday, March 28, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Munkácsi — Bear Ceremony Songs
Bear ceremony songs from Bernát Munkácsi's Vogul folklore collection (1892–1921).
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Texts
Bear Ceremony Songs — From the Munkácsi CollectionFive bear ceremony descent-songs from Munkácsi Bernát's Vogul Folk Poetry Collection (1893) — the liturgical core of Mansi bear cult religion, sung in the voice of the Sky-Daughter or Sky-Son descending from heaven to earth. First English translations.Dawn Song for Waking the BearA Mansi dawn song for waking the bear at the sacred ceremony — the singers urge the slain bear to open its eyes, to leave its forest memories behind, and to enjoy the feast before ascending to the sky. Recorded on the upper Sosva River, Western Siberia, in the 1880s–1890s. First English translation.Dawn Song for Waking the Bear II — Lozvafő VillageA Mansi dawn song for waking the bear at the sacred ceremony — the singers urge the slain beast to watch the dancing, remember how its ears once listened to twigs touching and its eyes counted the stars, and finally to feast before the closing cry. Recorded at Lozvafő village on the Lozva River, Western Siberia, in the 1880s–1890s. First English translation.Dawn Songs for Waking the Bear — Songs III to VIFour Mansi dawn songs for waking the bear at the sacred ceremony — including the Song of the Wolf-Elder's Three Sons, in which the bear narrates its own capture, feasting, and gradual ascent through the nights of the ceremony toward the land of the Sky-Father. Third Section, Songs III to VI of Munkácsi's Bear Ceremony Songs (1893). First English translations.Farewell and Escorting Songs for the BearTwo Mansi songs closing the sacred bear ceremony — a farewell teaching song in which the singer instructs the bear's spirit which of three openings to exit through, and an escorting song in the form of a dialogue between singer, bear, and host, in which the bear is guided past the iron-sword bridge, past the seven loons, across the mossy log, and home to the grandparents in heaven. Fourth Section of Munkácsi's Bear Ceremony Songs (1893). First English translations.Songs of the World-Guardian Man Bringing Down the BearTwo Mansi bear ceremony songs from Munkácsi Bernát's Vogul Folk Poetry Collection (1893) — the second and third songs of the Second Section, in which the World-Guardian Man on his celestial horse pursues the bear across the taiga. Song II from An-já village features three horsemen in black, red, and white; Song III from the Szigva region tells of the Sky-Sons' hunt and the bear's gift-laden return to heaven. First English translations.The Bear Song from Khaszilah Village — A God-Oracle Bear SongA Mansi god-oracle bear song in which a female bear is guided by three divine spirits along a prophesied itinerary from summer wandering to her winter den and the bear ceremony. She endures the mosquito-ridden summer eating forest leaves and mountain herbs, wanders across black and spotted mountains, and arrives at a sacred lake untouchable by man or woman. There she finds her idol great-grandfather's stone house. The first spirit directs her along the lake to a river and forest. The second — a furry-eyed forest-sprite's ancestor — directs her to berry-rich sandbanks to gather back-fat and breast-fat for winter, then onward to the salt-silver sacrificial lady, her elder sister, at a three-plank idol-tent. The elder sister prophesies the bear's whole remaining life: the route to the Tirtan River, a village blessed with spring and autumn fish, the Sajka Stream headwaters, and a thicket too dense for dog or man where she will dig her winter house. After two or three days, hunters will carry her to a village of daughters and sons. She will be placed on a platform rich with food and silk, and she will sit in the rejoicing house. Haja-haj. Recorded among the Mansi people of the Khaszilah village, Western Siberia, 1880s. First English translation.The Bear Song from Khulyem Village — A God-Oracle Bear SongA Mansi god-oracle bear song — the longest and most theologically complete of the four in Munkacsi's Sixth Section. A female bear awakens from her winter den, wanders the summer taiga, and encounters three divine spirits in storehouses along her path. The first, Hemp-Pillow-Man-Great-Grandfather, invites her to stay; she refuses. The second, the Black-Sable and Red-Sable Spirit-Princes, invites her; she refuses. The third encounter turns menacing — the spirit reveals himself as an iron-arrow-adorned prince-hero and claims one side of the bear's head-tufts, assigning the other to Hemp-Pillow-Man. The division is a naming: the spirits have already divided her ceremonial body between them. She builds her winter den, prays to Numi-Torem for snow, and sleeps. The Khulyem-village hunter finds her with his dog. She falls under the axe-weapon and the gun-weapon. Her four buttons are untied. She is carried on a sled to the village, where daughters play snow-games and sons play water-games. Three nights in the daughter-rejoicing house, four in the son-rejoicing house. Silver from the great and small idols is tied to her. Her cradle is broken. She departs on the god's road with jingling silver, enters the frosty forest, and meets other bears. They ask why she goes with silver. She answers: if your hearts ache for the autumn, go find the humans' sooty house too. Haja-haj. Recorded among the Mansi of Khulyem village, Western Siberia, 1880s. First English translation.The Descent of the Sky-Daughter — Bear Song from An-jáA Mansi bear ceremony song in which the bear — the daughter of the sky god Numi-Torem — narrates her own descent from the celestial house to the earth below. Recorded in the village of An-já on the upper Sosva River, Western Siberia, in the 1880s–1890s. First English translation.The Song of the Animal from the Szaracht River — Bear Song from the Szaracht RegionA Mansi bear ceremony song narrating the bear's life along the Szaracht River — summer wandering through berry-groves and mosquito swarms, the coming of winter with its freezing winds and snow, the digging of the den, the arrival of the young hunter on his first kill, the five-night ceremony, and the spirit's ascent with offerings to the Sky Father's silver-crossed house in heaven. Recorded in the Szaracht River region, Western Siberia, 1880s. First English translation.The Song of the Female Animal from the Pelim River — Bear Song from the Pelim HeadwatersA Mansi bear ceremony song narrating the life of a female bear sent by Golden-Khorés to the earth where humans dwell — her fruitless summer search for food through rivers and pine-groves, the coming of autumn snow, the discovery of a human food-cache, the arrival of hunters, a desperate flight through birch-hills and willow-streams, the crossing of the Wolf River, the Lyám, and the Pelim, the return to her winter den, and the ceremonial ascent to the Sky Father's silver house. Recorded among the Mansi people of the Pelim River headwaters, Western Siberia, 1880s. First English translation.The Song of the Mighty Animal — Bear Song from MunkeszA Mansi bear ceremony song narrating the complete cycle of the bear's life — summer wandering, autumn den-building, death at the hunter's hand, the five-night ceremony, the spirit's ascent to heaven on an iron ladder, and the Sky Father's command to return to earth. Recorded in Munkesz village on the upper Sosva River, Western Siberia, 1880s. First English translation.The Song of the Old One from the Vagla Headwaters — A God-Oracle Bear SongA Mansi god-oracle bear song in which a male bear narrates his own life, death, and ceremonial ascent in the first person. He wakes from winter, walks the Konda River, ambushes seven horses with twenty claws, recognises his noble form as marked for the hunter Polém-god appointed — the Old One of the Vagla Headwaters, who bears the same name as the bear himself. He crosses the Polém and the Lozva, paddling his belly like a canoe, then returns to his den. A hunting dog detects him. The hunter runs forward with bow, axe, and knife. The bear watches his own skull being crushed. He is carried to the village, washed by women, honoured for five nights with foal-fat and games, and departs forever, blessing the hunter. Recorded among the Mansi people of the Vagla River headwaters, Western Siberia, 1880s. First English translation.The World-Guardian Man Brings Down the Bear — Song from MunkeszA Mansi bear ceremony song in which the sacred bear narrates its own death and resurrection — pursued by the World-Guardian Man on a white horse through the autumn forest, slain in its den, honoured with five nights of feasting, and released by the Sky-Father back into the berry forests. The theological centrepiece of the Mansi bear cult. Recorded at Munkesz village, Western Siberia, 1880s–1890s. First English translation.