Squirrel and its image in the traditional Khakas culture (late 19th - mid 20th century)

Squirrels are one of the most common and numerous animals of Eurasia. This small, but very agile and nimble forest animal played an important role in the traditional lifestyle as well as ritual and ideological system of the Khakas people. Utilitarian, spiritual and symbolic importance of squirrel image for the Khakas culture and worldview has not yet been discussed in ethnographic literature. This article analyzes the role and place of the squirrel in the traditional culture of the Khakas people in the late 19th mid 20th centuries. This period was chosen because of the state of sources on the topic. Main sources are ethnographic, linguistic, and folklore evidence includingfield ethnographic materials collected by the author, and excerpts from heroic tales (alyptyg nymakhtar) in author’s translation into Russian. This study follows the methodological principle of historicism and applies historical and ethnographic methods of relict and semantic analysis. It has been established that squirrel and its image played an important role in the economy, and mythological and ritualistic complex of the Khakas people. Utilitarian importance of squirrels primarily resulted from their valuable fur and suitability of meat for human consumption thereby making this animal an important object of hunting. Squirrel furs were one of the key commodities with high consumer demand, and were widely used in ethnic Khakas clothing. It has been shown that some zoological features and intrinsic connection of squirrels with trees were the reason for considering this animal a mediator for communicating with the space of the other world.