COLOR DESIGNATIONS IN MYTHS, LEGENDS AND FAIRY TALES OF KHANTY AND MANSI

Abstract

The paper considers and analyzes colour designations in the folklore and mythological picture of the world of Ob-Ugric peoples. Based on the material of myths, legends and fairy tales of Khanty and Mansi, the authors reveal the most characteristic colour designations: gold, black, white, red, silver. The obtained results show that in the worldview of the Ob-Ugrians, colour has the function of marking different worlds. Colour terms such as gold, silver and white symbolize the Upper World – the world of light and goodness; the world of benevolent spirits of high rank and its associated symbols. In this context gold and silver are endowed with the status of sacredness and that of the highest value, and white personifies the highest immaculacy. There is the Lower World in opposition to the Upper World – the world of cold, diseases, death, marked by black and its shades. Red, associated with blood and the fire element, is inherent only in the Middle World of people. On the one hand, it represents life, the vitality of man, on the other hand, it is seen as a symbol of the destructive element. In the materials reviewed, the listed colours are also found in their literal meaning, first of all, as the color of an animal or that of natural objects.