Birtalan Ágnes: Kalmyk Folklore and Folk Culture in the Mid-19th Century: Philological Studies on the Basis of Gábor Bálint of Szentkatolna’s Kalmyk Texts.

ETHNOGRAPHICA CALMYCICA

none of the thieves is caught, they return home and they follow on seven-eight traces. They take the livestock from the camp the traces lead. If there are not any traces, the livestock is [considered to be] lost (Bálint maln'i iiräd baidak, Kalm. mal n

' iiräd bädg). The thieves distribute the livestock they have taken. COMPETITION OF HORSES (INCLUDING THE STEALING LIVESTOCK) AND COMPETITION OF STRENGTH (WRESTLING) Although the three famous competitions (Mong. er-e-yin yurban nay adum, Khal. ertn gurwan nádam, cf. Kalm. folklore bätrmüdin yurwn maryän

) are quite popular among the Mongols of various ethnic groups, Bálint devoted only a tiny chapter to these activities. Besides the two main endeavours of confirming whose horse is the best and to which family and clan belong the strongest man, the third, the proof of marksmanship (Kalm. sumär xarwx) is missing from the informants' data. Furthermore, these amusements of steppe nomads - otherwise meticulously described in the 18-19

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1 century travelogues and later fieldwork accounts

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7 - are only superficially mentioned here. As Bálint spent only the cold seasons among the Kalmyks, his possibility to observe horse racing and wrestling were reduced, and also life in a big city (as opposed to the countryside) probably hindered him from seeing amusements more related to steppe life and festivities. It is also remarkable but not entirely surprising that Bálint's informant grouped together the theft of livestock with the historically established tradition of male trials of strength and fastness of the closest companion of the Mongols - the horse. Since inner sources are available (13

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h century) on the Mongols, driving away livestock and obtaining back the stolen property belonged to the virtues of men folk. This notion led Bálint's informant to range of theft of livestock with the amusements and virile competitions. In the above sample text horse racing has been introduced at its most simplistic level, a similar example is also mentioned in the chapter on wedding ceremonies, where the wedding process provides several possibilities for competing on horseback.

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8 In the present fragment the distance (xoyur bürTn yazaräsu

) and the prize (a horse, a silk gown and [some] money) are determined, but concerning the participants and rules only approximate data is mentioned. g ABOUT THE OATH TAKING AMONG THE KALMYKS •55 (Bálint Xal'imigTn saxa abdigm tuski, Kalm. Xal'mgtn saxä awdgTn tusk)

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9 g [178] A man whose livestock has been stolen looks for the trail of the stolen livestock [by thief] among ^ the people of his neighbouring families. If traces of the livestock are found, the owner of the livestock accompanied by his numerous fellows follow these traces. Then, if the trail they followed leads to somebody's camp, they send one of them there to say to that camp's people: 'There are [livestock] traces coming here, please [come and] see!' Those people go to see the traces and they give as many [animals] from their camp, as there are trails of stolen livestock leading there. In the instance that there are no traces of any livestock and livestock had been stolen from them as well, they say to the livestock's owner:

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0 '"'" On Kalmyk horse racing cf. Erdnijev pp. 251-252, Ernjänä pp. 178-179; Birtalan - Rákos: Kalmükök, pp. 90-93. On wrestling cf. Erdnijev. p. 251. ... A recent survey of the contemporary sports and games of Mongols, based on field research with rich bibliography: Mongol játékok és versenyek. Ed. Birtalan, Agnes. (Körösi Csorna Kiskönyvtár 27. Ed. Ivanics, Mária). Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó 2006. [Mongolian Games and Sports], 104« "When they are nearing to the yurt, there is a competition called competing up to the smoke hole of the yurt. A red mottled kerchief with a piece of white silver bound in its comer is offered to the horse that wins." Manuscript pp. 178-180. 1 '"" This sentence is obscure and needs further investigation. In the present text there are other ambiguities that provide material for further analysis. 149