This article aims to look into one aspect of Udmurt culture, their religious beliefs. Despite the fact that the subject area has been addressed before (Vladimir Vladykin, Vladimir Napolskikh, Aado Lint­rop has already aimed at reconstructing the change in the Udmurts’ attitudes towards mythology and religion in the 19th–20th centuries), in this paper, a new approach to the subject area has been taken. The present paper is based on the material collected by one person – Bernit Munkicsi, a Hungarian researcher between 1885–1915. This paper, then, being based on the works of one researcher only, does not aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the subject area. Rather, the main task of this author is to create interest in the works of Munkicsi. This paper does not address prophesies, dreams, magic, or totemic and shaman beliefs, aspects of which were all characteristic of Udmurt religious culture, and accounts of which can be found in the works of Munkicsi.

As with most peoples, the Udmurts have a magnificent oral tradition – folklore – as well as traditions and customs. And people are bound by them and follow them throughout their lives.

Bernit Munkicsi (1860–1937), a Hungarian researcher has done a lot of work involving the collection and publication of Udmurt folklore. Being a linguist, ethnologist, literary critic, historian, as well as folklorist and teacher, his contribution was enormous: he published 357 works during his lifetime. These included articles, reviews, dictionaries, monographs, publications about folklore and dialects (some of them consisting of many volumes) about Hungarian, Mansi, Udmurt, Mari, Chuvash, Tatar, Ossetic and some other peoples and languages (Kelmakov 1987: 12).

Despite the fact that Munkicsi has not compiled one paper on any particular aspect of Udmurt ethnography, his contribution to the study of Udmurt heritage is highly valuable. His texts involve accounts of social and economic aspects of life, ideology and religious attitudes of the Udmurts. The texts also include systems of ethnic and ethical values of the Udmurts, their particular characteristic features, and special features of their language. To sum it up, Munkicsi sees an ethnic group as a whole, involving language, folklore, beliefs, folk art. His approach, then, is based on the concept of ethnos as a whole. “In addition to purely linguistic interests, I paid special attention to the spiritual life of the Votyaks. Through a study of their beliefs, attitudes and customs, I attempted to connect the two purposes, so that linguistic accounts would be of interest when psychological aspects of the ethnic group are considered. I found fairy tales, motifs, sayings and superstitions to be extremely fascinating, and they also comprise my collection,” says Munkicsi in the preface to his book (Domokos 1993: 62).

Already during his lifetime, Munkicsi’s works on Udmurt issues had a highly valued status among specialists. I.Smirnov, professor of Kazan university, who was among the best well-known ethnologists interested in the areas around the river Volga of that time, valued most highly the earlier works by Munkicsi. In his popular work “Votyaks”, he stated that “one of the most valuable aspects of Munkicsi’s works is the devotion with which he has transcribed his texts. His issue has no counterpart in our literature. He should be a model researcher for everyone engaged in the study of foreign texts” (Smirnov 1890: 291). Kuzebai Gerd, Udmurt poet and researcher also valued highly the works by Munkicsi. After he had studied folklore collected by different authors, he claimed “the works by Munkicsi to be the best to be read. Munkicsi’s notes include every possible item of information, e.g.: where, by whom, when and in which village the accounts have been made; in addition, all dialects are in the original form. On the basis of that, it is possible to examine how folklore and language of a district have changed through time” (Gerd 1929: 20).

It was at the end of the 1960s, however, when Munkicsi’s views about Udmurt issues were fast growing in popularity. Researchers of Udmurt subjects published a large number of articles both in scientific journals and in the press (Gilmayev 1976: 153–154; Kelmakov 1974: 54–57; 1977: 46–47; 1980). V.Vladykin and Lyudmila Khris­to­lyubova also analyse the works of Munkicsi in their historiographic overview of Udmurt ethnology (Vladykin 1970: 127–128; Vladykin & Khristolyubova 1984: 31–32). The fact that the “Great Soviet Encyclopedia” includes an article on him also indicates Munkicsi’s great popularity (Bolshaya… 1974: 115–116). The legend “Heroes from Kalmez”, recorded by Munkicsi in his fieldwork trip to the Udmurts in 1885, is of special interest to linguists (Uvarov 1980: 38–42; 1982: 18–20; Yashin 1983: 8–9).

In his article “The Udmurts and Hungary”, Péter Domokos states that “Munkicsi has been the most effective populariser of the Udmurts in Hungary and Western Europe” (1967: 328). In his book “Уральские языки и народы” (“Uralic languages and peoples”), Péter Hajds has also claimed Munkicsi to be among the leading researchers in the field of Uralic languages and peoples (1985: 354–355).

With the publication of his elaborately laid out special edition “Подарок Мункачи” (“A Present from Munkicsi”), Munkicsi reached out to a wider audience. The collection was published in Udmurt, Hungarian and Russian in 1983. It has been supplemented with photographs; in addition, it contains vivid descriptions, excerpts from his diary and a selection of texts from the collected works of Munkicsi (e.g. songs, legends). Excerpts from the diary in Russian were also published in the edition “Край родниковый” (1984), the introduction of which is written by Anatoli Uvarov.

The abundant text material collected by Munkicsi provides a valuable resource for linguists, as well as ethnologists and folklorists. Therefore, Péter Domokos, Vladimir Vladykin, Tatyana Pere­voshchikova-Vladykina and Aado Lintrop use his material and refer to his works in their research (Domokos 1993; Vladykin 1993; Vladykina 1998; Lintrop 1997; 2000).

Research into the material compiled by Munkicsi (e.g. Udmurt folklore and collected ethnographic texts published in two volumes, as well as his dictionary of the Udmurt language) has, however, not been completed.

Bernit Munkicsi as a Researcher of the Udmurts. FolkloreCollections and the Dictionary

Bernit Munkicsi had already become interested in the Udmurt language while being a student. Reportedly, he had the first direct contacts with, and learnt basic skills of the Udmurt language through the works by Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann (“Grammatik der wotja­ki­schen Sprache nebst einem kleinen wotjakisch-deutschen und deutsch-wotjakischen Wörterbuch”. Reval, 1851) and Boris Gavri­lov. The work by B.Gavrilov “???????????? ???????? ?????????­?? ?????? ? ??????? ??????? ????????? ? ??????? ????????” (Ka­zan, 1880) was the first collection of Udmurt folklore to be published in the Udmurt language with a Russian translation.

Munkicsi was persistent in research into Udmurt cultural heritage. Therefore, it was he who was sent on a study trip to the Udmurts by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1885. When he reached there, he was a relatively well prepared researcher. He had two papers on the Udmurt language published by that time “Votjik nyelvtanulminyok” (“Theses on the Votyak language”) in “Nyelvtudominyi közlemények” (“Linguistic messages”) XVII, XVIII (Budapest, 1883, 1884) – with B.Gavrilov’s texts (e.g. 120riddles, 6 fairytales, 21 plots and 96 short songs, 5prayers (kuris’­kon) in Latin transcription with Hungarian translation). At the end of the first issue, there is a short dialect glossary on which his Udmurt-Hungarian-German dictionary was based. In his second article, Munkicsi provides a vivid historiographic overview of Udmurt linguistics and deals with all the source material available in this subject area (he refers to researchers, such as M.Buch, N.Po­ta­nin, T.Aminoff, B.Gavrilov, G.Vereshchagin, I.Smirnov, N.Per­vu­khin, V.Bekhterev, S.Kuznetsov – the list covering almost all researchers in the subject area).

On 25 April 1885, a 25-year old Munkicsi arrived in the city of Kazan, which he called a “Mecca for Finno-Ugrians”. During the three months (from June to August) of his stay among the Udmurts living in the districts of Sarapul, Yelabuga, Malmyzh and Glazov, within Vyatka guberniya, and also among the Udmurts living on the other side of the Kama River in Ufa guberniya, he collected an enormous amount of material involving almost every aspect of Udmurt culture and everyday life.

After 30 years, Munkicsi met the Udmurts again: this was during World War I in the Esztergom concentration camp. Thanks to the application by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, some researchers (such as B.Munkicsi, Divid Rafael Fokos-Fuchs, Beke Ödön) were allowed to work with the prisoners whose mother tongue was any of the Finno-Ugrian languages.

The work with prisoners started on 30 May 1915. He had 25 Udmurts coming from different regions (Munkicsi 1952: XII–XVI).

The folklore and ethnographic texts collected from them were published in a number of volumes, which might be called the Encyclopedia of the Udmurts. The volumes involve accounts of the Udmurts’ material cultural heritage and spiritual life at the turn of the 20th century.

Now, briefly, I will describe the materials in the above volumes. In order to illustrate the large volume of Munkicsi’s folklore edition “Votjik népkötészeti hagyominyok” (“Udmurt folklore traditions”) (1887), I will provide some figures here. The edition involves 277 songs, 168superstitions and beliefs, 148 riddles, 17 fairytales and stories, 15 prayers (kuris’kon), 10 legends and traditions, 5 sayings, 12 proverbs and short sayings (saw), 11 curses and 1 oath (644items altogether). After each text, the author has added his comments. Basically, the edition resembles a diary in which the author also describes his working conditions and situations, his route, informants, shares his experiences and knowledge with readers. Then follow folklore and ethnographic texts: superstitions and beliefs, riddles, legends and cosmographic tradition, historical legends, spells and fairy tales involving magic, fairy tales about water and forest fairies, about animals, stories about everyday activities, jokes, prayers, description of the plough feast (akashka), sayings, proverbs and short sayings, curse words, prayers of thanksgiving, personal names and place names, songs. The items are listed in accordance with Munkicsi’s edition.

In this edition, however, of special interest are prayers (Munkicsi 1887: 188), sayings and the oath (p. 192). The above texts involve accounts of the pantheon of the Udmurts and their number magic. The oath reveals their system of values and their protection strategies on which purification of the Udmurts is based and to what they swear their oaths.

Excellent pieces of research done by Munkicsi are also a collection of cosmogonic myths, called “Dun’n’elen kőldemez” (“Creation of the world”) (p. 49), an epic folk tale “Kalmez batőrjos” (“Heroes from Kalmez”) (pp. 6–63)¹, fairytales “?undőlen emespijez” (“Son-in-law of the Sun”) (pp. 317–318), and a very ancient piece “Mu? utt’?’an gur” (“Song for calling bees”) (pp. 317–318). And again, the comments added by Munkicsi to all text samples are also of particular importance and value.

Regarding the huge amount of vocabulary items collected during the fieldwork trips to the Udmurts in 1885, Munkicsi started to compile the Udmurt-Hungarian-German dictionary “A votjik nyelv szótira” I–IV (Budapest, 1890–1896). Munkicsi himself has commented on the book: “It is a great pleasure to tell you that the dictionary of Udmurt language is now complete. I have overcome my sentimentality, yet I must admit that when I added the last note to the dictionary manuscript this afternoon, I burst into tears. The generous Inmar has assisted me so far. What Reguly, Castrén and Aminoff were not able to complete – that is to take care of their volumes and arrange them in order – the possibility that came to me by divine grace. Although it took me 14 months of work in perfect tranquillity, I was ambitious and full of enthusiasm because I believed my work would be widely approved by specialists and a major step forward in the world of science” (Kelmakov 1987: 17).

The dictionary contains about 9000 words (Domokos 1993: 134), involving elements of a dialectal, historical, etymological and explanatory dictionary. An important aspect of the dictionary is that under entry words, very often an ethnographic information has been provided.

Munkicsi published accounts from his diary of the 1885 fieldwork trip under the heading “A votjakok közt” (“Among the Udmurts”) (1892). His report for the Hungarian Academy of Sciences about the fieldwork in the Esztergom concentration camp was published as “Jelentés az esztergomi fogolytiborban végzett votjik nyelvi és néprajzi tanulminyaimról” (“My notes regarding the Udmurt language and ethnography, written down in Esztergom concentration camp”) (Akadémiai Értesito Budapest, 1916 – Februar 15).

In his book “Volksbräuche und Volksdichtung der Wotjaken” (“Udmurts’ traditions and folklore”) (1952), folklore and ethnographic texts collected in the concentration camp have been published. The book was not published in his lifetime – this was edited and published by Professor D.R.Fokos-Fuchs, student and co-worker of Munkicsi.

The comprehensive volume containing over seven-hundred-pages of text involves accounts about every aspect of Udmurt culture. The introduction to it provides any information about the material (e.g. time, location of collection, circumstances, methodology and informants, editing the material for publication, classification principles). The material was classified as “About everyday life”, “Beliefs”, “The Bear cult and hunting”, “Prayers and sacrificial ceremonies”, “Magic”, “Fairytales, legends, and stories”, “Riddles”, “Proverbs and sayings”, “Songs”, “Nursery songs and the drawing of Lots”, “Appendices and commentaries”. The chapter “The Bear cult and hunting” is one of the most original parts of the edition. There is no similar material about the bear cult among the Udmurts available in the works of other authors. The fourth part of the edition contains materials of sacrificial ceremonies, prayers, and incantations. With this edition, then the whole human life from birth to death has been examined (Munkicsi 1952: 108–109). What is also really fascinating is the system of money calculation suggested by Munkicsi (1952: 226–227).

Thanks largely to the works by Munkicsi, many issues of Udmurt ethnography and especially their spiritual life have been clarified through an abundance of source material, which is growing in importance.

The World of Udmurt Folk Beliefs

“In general, Udmurts are hardworking, albeit cheerful and good-hearted people with a poetic disposition. Those who are able to appreciate their naive attitude, can find many positive aspects in their songs, as well as in witty proverbs and stories,” said Munkicsi, with regard to the works about the Udmurts by Gavrilov (Kelmakov 1987: 14), and he held this attitude throughout his lifetime.

In this paper, I look into the spiritual life of the Udmurts using the works by Munkicsi and formulate the concept of the religious beliefs of the Udmurt at the turn of the 20th century.

How did life come into existence, and what about the Earth? Who is the creator of them? What was the primary cause of everything? These were the issues that have concerned the Udmurts, as with any other ethnic group and for which they have sought solutions. “In the beginning, there was nothing in place of the Earth, there was only water everywhere. There, Inmar went boating with a large vessel. Once he thought, “How can I create the Earth here,” and told ?aitan to come to him. He told ?aitan: “Go to the bottom of the water and take whatever you find there to the surface in your mouth.” ?aitan then started to sink but there was no bottom at all. Then, finally he met a crayfish that asked him: “Where are you going?” – “I am sinking to the bottom and what I find there I carry to the surface in my mouth,” he said. “Come on, I have lived here for 12 years and never seen the bottom before.” ?aitan however decided to sink further. It took him lot of time to get the bottom where he took a mouthful of sand and returned to the surface. When he went back to Inmar, Inmar said: “Spit out the mouthful of sand and do not leave any sand in your mouth.” ?aitan however did not obey that command. Immediately the Earth emerged from the sand he had spat out, while the sand that remained in his mouth started to swell up. When Inmar saw his assistant’s swollen cheek, he said: “Why didn’t you do what I’ve told you? I asked you not to leave any sand in your mouth,” and demanded that ?aitan should spit out the rest of the sand. If ?aitan had done what he was told to do right away, the surface of the Earth would have been flat and even. From that sand he spat out later, valleys and high hills emerged” (Munkicsi 1887: 49).

The world creation motif involving the supreme god and his assistant who is his younger brother in the shape of a bird appears among most Finno-Ugric peoples. The devil or ?aitan later replaces the shape of the bird (Vladykin 1994: 72–73).

Inmar was the chief god, “the most important god, and a central personality, in the mythology of Votyaks. Inmar was the creator of the world, initiator of justice (fair treatment) and good things in general; on whom defenceless people could trust and rely. His throne was in heaven and he ruled by thunder” (Munkicsi 1890–1896: 56–57).

The topics of the ancient Udmurts did not involve the creation of the Earth and heaven only, they also involved other phenomena around us: storm, thunder, crop failure, and illness. What does a hunter’s success depend on? Why do people sometimes get lost in the forest? Why some people can keep bees, while some cannot? ... As they were not aware of the real reasons behind the phenomena, they explained them by the involvement of supernatural creatures that resembled humans, but were much stronger or skilful in one or another field, either in the forest, water, hunting, fishing, farming.

Inmar was not, however, the only god the Udmurts had. What was the Udmurt pantheon like? Some unique data about this issue is available in spell words – prayers (Munkicsi 1887: 147–168):

Vőlős’ Töd’ő Jugőt Badd’?’őm Inmar – Chief White Light Great God;

Kőlt’?’n Inmar – “ordinary epithet used with Inmar, in more recent Christian literature usually angel; spirit that protects cereal crops, bread” (Munkicsi 1890–1896: 163);

Kozma Inmar – (Munkicsi does not provide any explanation, can be kuaz – weather. Often Inmar-kuaz has been addressed);

Mudor – “unknown word, usually a synonym for Vor?ud” (see next item), (Munkicsi 1890–1896: 713);

Vor?ud – God of family cult;

Invu – heavenly rain (Munkicsi 1890–1896: 54);

Mu-Kőldős’in – Earth-Mother (Munkicsi 1890–1896: 724);

Lud in-vu – Spirit of the Udmurts’ sacred grove (lud);

Bődd’?’őm kua-peri – Spirit of the Udmurts’ sacred barn.

The Udmurt pantheon is closely related to their economic activities and family organisation, which are especially evident in the rituals connected with farming, the bear cult (hunter cult), as well as family and kin worship with the ancestor cult and worship of sacred places.

What was the task of each deity? The supreme god Inmar lived in heaven, provided people with light and warmth; Kőlt’?’n Inmar, Kőldős’in was responsible for bread and other foodstuff; Vor?ud, Lud in-vu, Bődd’?’őm kua-peri were closely connected with the arrangements within the kinships of Udmurts, with family and kinship cult.

Kuala was the sacred “worshipping barn of the Udmurts” (Munkicsi 1890–1896: 230), as it was here where Vor?ud – one of most kind-hearted spirits who protected humans and their homes – lived. He lives in a summer sacred barn on top of a pole (vor?ud jubo or bődd’?’őm mudor) near the sacrificial site (here are the fetish-like items, such as a rectangular box of tree bark with a wooden cover with some spruce twigs and a vessel with a spoon near there). Vor?ud is the most important part of the family’s religious ceremony. In most feasts and important events, sacrifices are made to the Vor?ud; his sacred nature spreads over the whole summer sacred barn (kua), the Udmurts’ domestic chapel. In Christian terminology, the term Vor?ud has also taken on the meaning ‘Holy Spirit’ or ‘angel’ (Munkicsi 1890–1896: 683).

In addition to family sacred barns, where only family members say their prayers, there are also the sacred barns belonging to the kin (bődd’?’őm kuala). These can be managed by kin members who are in direct line of descent from their primordial ancestors. The number of kin sacred barns (bődd’?’őm kuala) in a village equals the number of the kin living there.

Kin also used holy groves (lud) as sacred sites. The word lud means ‘field’ or ‘small wood near a village’, especially sacred site. Usually, sacred sites were separated from the rest of the wood. No matter where lud was located, either in the wood or in the field, people fear this involved magic powers. On workdays, no one was allowed to go there without a valid reason, while at feasts, people should not go there without an offering. It was not allowed to take animals there, cut twigs from trees or take a single slat out of the grove. It was not allowed either in the lud to make any noise there or set traps for wild birds. Sacrilege was an ultimate sin there (Munkicsi 1887: 310).

All items in the sacred site were sacred, as with trees that they were holy. The Udmurts believe that the spirit of lud punished those who tried to cut a tree there. They died on the spot or were disabled for the rest of their life (Munkicsi 1952: 140).

All the sacrificial ceremonies of a kin were performed in the grove or sacred barn. Worships and sacrifices made by a family were made in the family sacred barn that was located in the yard and considered as the family sacred worshipping place.

Family and kinship cults are also closely related to ancestor worship, which is apparent in funeral customs in particular.

Udmurt funeral customs reveal two different attitudes to the dead. On the one hand, they were respected, offerings were made to them, they were addressed for help, e.g.: “Do not do any harm, protect one’s family and domestic animals, protect the sown crop, do not feed it to worms or insects!” (Munkicsi 1952: 45). People also provided the dead with food, drink, clothes, household goods and tools, as well as money for the after life. On the other hand, they were scared; people tried to get rid of them as soon as possible using magic and other means. They were lost, so that they did not find the way back home and disturb their living relatives there. “When leaving the graveyard, someone takes an axe and makes a line on the ground after each person, saying: “You stay here under the ground, lag behind others,” while saying the name of the buried person” (Munkicsi 1952: 109).

In addition to higher (supernatural) deities affecting human destinies, the Udmurts also had their conception about spirits and souls who could use their almighty power both for the goodwill or ill will of a person.

That is the way superstitions about vumurt or vukuz’o – “god of water and fishing – emerge. Usually, he inhabits the bottom of a river or pond and sometimes comes out (combing his hair) and therefore is quite frightening. In general, he has adopted a hostile attitude towards humans: drags them to the bottom, destroys mills, and helps fish to get out of nets. One can feel his significant impact even on land: he spreads eczema, scabies and other infectious diseases. The feast-day – jö vőle sulton – (resembles the Epiphany) is also held in honour of him. On that day, people go together onto the ice and sacrifice a duck (thrown it into a hole in the ice) on behalf of the village community. This ritual sacrifice is made because he did not drown people. In order to avoid minor problems in the future, coins are thrown into the hole” (Munkicsi 1890–1896: 691–692).

Images of the following spirits are also created, e.g.:

N’ulesmurt – spirit or fairy of the forest,

Palesmurt – half-human, yet spirit of the forest,

Korkamurt – spirit or fairy of the house,

Kől’dei – god of infectious diseases and plague (Munkicsi 1887: 191),

Albastő – hostile spirit who lives in a stall, in a stable as well as in swimming areas and frightens people with his manifestation, and even swallows them together with their hair (Munkicsi 1890–1896: 25). In addition, some other spirits have been identified.

Spirits inhabited everywhere; the Udmurts used to explain natural phenomena through spirits. They explained events in their personal lives, as well as unexpected natural phenomena by the involvement of friendly or hostile spirits. Similarly, life and activities of humans were thought to have been caused by the spirits living within humans. The Udmurts have two different spirits: lul (‘spirit of the living person’) and urt (‘spirit of the dead person’). They believed that the latter becomes a moth (urt bubőli). Many Finno-Ugric peoples share the same attitudes towards spirits (Vladykin 1993: 243).

It comes out, then, that both coming into this world and leaving this world are the work of two spirits: lul-vir s’otis’ peri (‘the spirit who gives the soul and blood to humans’), and lul bas’tis’ peri (‘the spirit who takes the being away from humans’) (Munkicsi 1952: 108).

Human life, both its successful events and failures, was believed to be related to either support or hostility on the part of gods and spirits. In order to improve relations with them, different sacrifices were made to them.

With the work by Munkicsi, it is possible for the first time to follow the whole sequence of sacrificial rituals – from birth to death.

“On childbirth, a duck was sacrificed to the spirit who gives the spirit (lul-vir s’otis’ peri). Later, seven more ducks were sacrificed to him. Two pikes were sacrificed to Inmar, and a lamb to Kőldős’in. A cock was sacrificed to the spirit who takes away the spirit from humans (lul bas’tis’ peri); a grouse to the one that limits the freedom and free will of humans (ujin mőnis’-vetlis’ perios); a duck was offered to the spirits of the night (ujin mőnis’-vetlis’ perios) and to the spirits of the grove (lul-jől perios).

At a wedding, a bull (kurbon) was sacrificed at that same place where prayers to Inmar were made, and thereafter two geese which “should be taken to the god”. In other words, the geese should be bridles.

On wedding, a sheep was also sacrificed to Inmar under a birch tree; a couple of fish to the sacred site in the field (buső vös’); a stallion to the spirit of the Evil Eye (biger miz’), a sacrifice that was promised before: a deer to the spirit who makes humans impure (vo?o miz’); and a ram to the sacrificial sites of the Nylga and Vamya families (Nőlga juruk, Vamja juruk).

When a married couple first goes to the kin’s sacred worshipping barn (bődd’?’őm kuala), two geese were offered as “ultimate sacrifices”, and a couple of ducks which would hand the geese over to the god. Then, a deer was offered in the sacred worshipping barn.

When a man was taken into the army, a couple of geese were sacrificed to him in the lud. On death, a stallion was sacrificed for a man and a cow for a woman” (Munkicsi 1952: 108–109).

Udmurts used to live a fully religious way of life. Through sacrifices made during religious ceremonies and rituals, they aimed to win the gods’ sympathy: they wished that the gods would fulfil their wishes, to protect them from getting into trouble and bad luck.

What are then the things the Udmurts asked from the gods? Their prayers involve no wish to have privileges meant for clergy members. In their prayers they ask for worldly rewards for themselves, their families and neighbours. They prayed that they had a good harvest, good weather, and an increase in livestock. They prayed for a happy life with fewer troubles both in the family circle and village community, as well as good health for themselves and their close relatives. Their prayers had neither humility nor reconciliation. The Udmurts “sign” a contract with their god saying that they make further sacrifices only if the god has accepted their previous ones: “Oh, my almighty Inmar, my Kőlt’?’n! Please accept my sacrifices and prayers! May the crops grow like willows, oh my Inmar! Add a load to the load and a haystack to the haystack, my generous almighty Inmar! So that we could eat bread with our good children! Give warmth and a light rain to the crops that have been sown; protect them from heavy rain and strong wind, my generous almighty Inmar! May we have good health and wealth, my generous almighty Inmar! Something I should have said earlier, I perhaps said somewhat later. Please accept these prayers, my generous great Inmar!” (Munkicsi 1952: 110).

Religious beliefs, magic words and traditions form people’s morals, values and their values protection system, through which the Udmurts achieve their mental purity. “I swear in the name of Inmar, sun, moon, bread, fire, earth, and my future that I have not done it” (Munkicsi 1887: 192). Curse words address the Underworld and basis of the universe, as well as god of infectious diseases and plague (Kől’dei and Albastő) (Munkicsi 1887: 191).

The most important aspects that form the concept of morals are attitude to work, family values, and worship of the dead and gods. The Udmurts do not aim to please their gods in the hope that they would have gratitude in return in the after life. All myths are connected with farming, hunting and fishing, which teach people to fill time with working, rather than sitting idle. Fairytales glorify inventiveness, wit, diligence, bravery and generosity. Proverbs and sayings on the other hand value a decent upbringing, family values, and love for children and work: laziness and sitting idle are also the main targets of reproach and rebuke in oral tradition.

The Udmurt folklore, which Bernit Munkicsi has carefully collected, provides a valuable treasure for generations to come.

References

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1 Before it was argued in literature whether it is a folk tale or an epic poem; then it was agreed that it is part of an epic poem that has got lost (Uvarov 1980: 38–42; 1982; Yashin 1983: 8–9; Domokos 1993: 119–122).

Photograph 1. Yekaterina Bulatova’s summer barn kuala, with an approximate age of 100 years. Front view. Novyi Sentek village, Zavyalovo district, Udmurtia. Photograph by Priit Härmas 1977. Photographic collections of ENM (Fk) 1828: 156.

Photograph 2. Internal view of the kin sacred worshipping barn bődd’?’őm kuala. Ritual towels and birch branches. Kuzebayevo village, Alnash district, Udmurtia. Photograph by Priit Härmas 1978. Fk 1862: 186.

Photograph 3. Internal view of the kin sacred worshipping barn bődd’?’őm kuala. A pole decorated with birch branches, vor?ud jubo or bődd’?’őm mudor (location of the protective deity of the kinship) and ritual tableware. Varklet Bodya village, Agryz district, Tatarstan. Photograph by Priit Härmas 1980. Fk1920: 48.

Photograph 4. Sculls and shin bones of the sacrificial animals that have been dedicated to dead parents, hanging from a spruce. Varklet Bodya village, Agryz district, Tatarstan. Photograph by Priit Härmas 1980. Fk 1920: 31.