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

parents, elder brothers and their wives and relatives according to the in-laws [custom].

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4' [146] The in-laws [custom] is as it is written below.

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2 That daughter-in-law calls his husband's

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4 mother and father "mother and father"

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4 or "dear father and dear mother".

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5 The brothers and their wives and other relatives call the daughter-in-law and the husband by their names name following the in-laws [custom]. The daughter-in-law calls them mother and father [sic!].

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6 When these many relatives (inlaws) come to visit [her] yurt, that daughter-in-law stands up and until her death she does not say their names,

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7 what is more, she is ashamed and tries to hide herself from them. That is why our Kalmyks used to say that earlier many old men died without seeing their daughter-in-laws. Now it is not so, these many relatives

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8 consider their daughter-in-law as their own daughter. RITES DU PASSAGES 1. WEDDING: LOOSING AND TYING Weddings are one of best documented areas of early and present day Kalmyk life. The majority of the wedding's ceremonial segments - as a research discipline - can be examined without major difficulties and outsiders are also welcomed to participate in most of its different stages (contrary to the birth and funerals). Compared with the reports of Pallas, Bergman, Nebol'sin and Ziteckij and later works,

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9 Bálint's informant gives a less detailed narration, but nonetheless, one which is very unique concerning its terminology. The I9

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h century Kalmyk wedding traditions and the present day Oirat customs show typological similarities. To demonstrate the correspondence of Kalmyk wedding with the series of events of wedding ceremony as they have been preserved in the Kalmyks' original homeland of Turkistan, one segment of the Oirat nuptial ceremony follows. The ritual of "making the bride bow" among the Turkistan-Oirats (in Xingjian) is demonstrated in a more detailed way, but the basic structure has remained the same since their migration to the Volga-region even in the Russian and Turkic environment. Ber mörgülx "Making the bride bow"

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0 In the evening when the bride arrived to the yurt of the parents-in-law, a white felt rug will be spread out and in front of it a curtain will be pulled. Then all the elder, respected relatives, to whom the bride should pay homage, will come to get to know the new daughter-in-law. Everybody will be called by name and the bride bows before them. The parents-in-law saying blessings give the young couple garments or support them with the "five kinds of livestock". The new daughter-in-law should not mention the names of her parents-in-law, should not go to the honoured place in their yurt, she should not be seen by them without head kerchief or barefooted. These prescriptions she has to keep all life long.

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0" Bálint xadamana-. Kalm.D. xadmla- "die Wörter und Namen verdrehen od. durch Synonyme ersetzen, wie es die junge Frau tun muss, die Frauensprache sprechen (vor den Schwiegereltern und ihren Verwandten)" (R 158) The custom is discussed by others as well: Pürbän p 148, Duäan pp. 24-25. 10,

2 This statement is a piece of evidence that Bálint asked to write down the texts he collected. 103

3 Bálint kiirgii. Kalm. kiirgn. ""

4 Bálint éji, äba "mother and father", the usual neutral expressions for the parents. Cf. Aberle: The Kinship System, pp. 30-31. 101

5 Bálint bäba. äka respectfully calling expressions for elder male (

bäba

) and female (äka) relatives, not only mother and father-inlaw. Aberle: The Kinship System, pp 30-31. 10,

6 Bálint eke. edge "mother and father", cf. above. Aberle strictly declared in his article devoted to the kinship system among the Kalmyks that these two terms can not be used as addressing. Cf. Aberle: The Kinship System p. 31. "'" On the name taboo cf. Aberle: The Kinship System p. 34. 103

8 Bálint xadamadüd "all the relatives of a husband's side". 103

9 Pallas II pp. 235-241; Bergmann III. pp. 145-152; Nebol'sin pp. 70-83; Ziteckij ...; Kara, György (ed.): Early Kalmyk Primers and Other Schoolbooks. Samples from Textbooks 1925-1930. (The Mongolia Society Special Papers, Issue 13) Bloomington. The Mongolia Society 1997. pp. 72-73; Habunova: Tulmt. pp. 45-63; Batmajev, M. M.: Sem'ja i brak v tradicijah kalmykov. Elsita, GU lzdatel'skij dorn 'Gerel' 2008; BordZanova: Magiceskaja poezija kalmykov. pp. 87-92, 176-180; Birtalan - Rákos: pp. 83-86 and many others. '"

4" The above account is taken form the Oyirad-un Jang ayali. Ed. N. Basang. Kökeqota, Öbör Mongyol-un Arad-un Keblel-iin Qoriy-a 1990. [The Customs of the Oyirads] pp. 238-243. Hereafter the spoken Oirat form of terms will be quoted. ,04

1 Cf. the taboos for the bride in Bálint's text. 142