FEMALE IMAGES IN THE FOLKLORE OF THE INGUSH AND CHECHENS

Abstract

Within the framework of the North Caucasian science of folklore, the article examines gender archetypal images found in the oral folk art of the Ingush and Chechens. The research material is a collection of fairy tales, stories and legends, published by A.O. Malsagov and I.A. Dakkhilgov in 1986 in Grozny. It is revealed that the key place among female images is occupied by the “ancestress of the people”, “primordial woman”, “smart daughter-in-law”, “Georgian queen Tamara”, as well as women from the people, whose names and deeds formed the basis of toponymic names. An important place in the folklore collection under study is also occupied by toponymic, geographical legends, which are based on various historical events related to the dramatic fate of the Vainakh women. Among them there are “The mountain of three sisters”, “Two brothers and their mother”, “Maiden Spit Spring”, “Land for beauty”, etc. In the context of intercultural communication, it is also worth noting the images of representatives of neighboring peoples captured in the folklore of the Ingush and Chechens. The study revealed the following gender archetypes: “mythological ancestor of the people”, “sorceress-witch”, “smart daughter-in-law”. In the course of the work, such a peripheral image as the “Georgian Queen Tamar” is also identified, and various “feminitives” are noted, which make up the basis for the names of geographical localities, such works testify to the breadth of the folklore consciousness of the North Caucasian peoples.