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Abstract:

The article examines the important issue of the semantic connections between various areas of Ossetian traditional culture, namely: oral epics (based on tales of the Narts) and dancing (based on social (public) dances). The key to understanding these connections lies in the miraculous staff, the possession of which is equally characteristic of both the epic patriarch Wærkhæg, and the master of ceremonies at social dances — cheghre / k’eghre. The comparison of epic and choreographic traditions is based on functional ethnology, which implies two realizations of myth: a verbal one (epic narrative) and an actional (performance), equally dominant as social ideology at the ethnographic stage. Ultimately, it allows to establish a category of myth that explains the use of a stick (staff) by both the epic hero and the dance master. At the same time, the economic relevance of this object, inextricably linked to both agriculture (the primitive plow) and livestock breeding (the shepherd’s crook), becomes clear. From semantic point of view different spheres of Ossetian traditional culture appear internally unified and interconnected.