The spectacular and game culture of the north in the context of the J. Huizinga’ concept

This article is devoted to the phenomenon of the Northern circus as an innovative resource for the development of the ethno-cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples of the North. Within the framework of the game concept by J. Huizinga, the origins of the circus culture of the cold world are revealed, which goes back to the authentic "culture of spectacles" as an adaptive strategy. The authors of the article reveal the nuclear structures of the protocircular culture of the North as sacred games that played a culture-creating role in the re-creation of the Arctic being space. The productive application of J. Huizinga's concept to the game culture of the North made it possible for the first time to present the ethno-cultural landscape of the North and the Arctic as a multi-layered text of "sacred rites" aimed at activating creative activity, celebrating the victory of the spirit, and overcoming natural and social crises.. Based on the semiotic analysis of traditional games as collective entertainment in the North, an important conclusion was made about the symbolic nature of the game and its plot structure in the form of a mythological first situation. Reproduction of the mechanism of culture in the extreme conditions of the Arctic was realized through the synthesis and interpenetration of all "genres" in a single information space of sacred games as a translator of cultural memory.