Horse veneration and festive traditions of the Northern Yakuts (Sakhalar): Based on the fieldwork of ethnographer A.A. Savvin, collected in 1939 in the Verkhoyanskiy ulus of Yakutia

The paper discusses the traditional spring ritual celebration of the Yhyakh horse festival of the Northern Yakuts (Verkhoyansk - Daaҥy Sahalar). The main source was the fieldwork of ethnographer Andrei Andreevich Savvin, collected by him in 1939 in the Verkhoyanskiy ulus of Yakutia. Describing the arrangement of the festival, he paid particular attention to the so-called benedictions (Algyses). These manuscripts have not previously been researched or published, i.e. in general they have not been introduced into science, which ensures the novelty of the study. The unique field records of A.A. Savvin's northern folk-ethnographical expedition are preserved in the Manuscript Collection of the RAS Yakutsk Research Centre Archive (YaRC SB RAS). Modern scholarship in the humanities should now appreciate the legacy of this scholar and begin systematic study and publication of his scholarly collections.