Materials on demonology and witchcraft of the Isaevskoe Vepsians in the collection of the ethnographic bureau founded by prince Tenishev

The article analyzes the materials on Vepsian demonology and witchcraft of the Isaevskoe rural community of the Chernoslobodskaya volost (Vytegorskiy uyezd, Olonets province) found in Prince Tenishev's archive in order to determine their specific nature and characteristics in comparison with the data on common Vepsian and Russian mythologies. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that nothing is known about the mythological views and perceptions of the Vepsians as an ethnic group. It has been established that a significant number of elements in the complexes of ideas about demonology and witchcraft among the Isaevskoe Vepsians turned out to be similar to the common Vepsian and northern Russian mythological traditions, and in some cases wider parallels were found with eastern Slavic and Balto-Finnic mythologies. The process of Russification of the Isaevskoe Vepsians was clearly reflected in their traditional worldview. Russian influence caused the emergence of Russian names for the spirits of nature and household, and affected the perception of them as single spirits, without a partner or family, as well as the perception of the spirit of the house as a deceased ancestor and patron of cattle; it can also be traced in the verbal components of rituals. The Russified version of the mythology of the Isaevskoe Vepsians also included unique entities with no exact equivalents in other regions.