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ТЮРКСКИЕ И МАЛАИСКО-ПОЛИНЕЗИИСКИЕ
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Sahar Hidayat qizi Orujeva THE PROBLEMS AND TASKS OF THE CONTEMPORARY AZERBAIJANI STUDY OF FOLKLORE
The article deals with the most important and urgent tasks of the contemporary Azerbaijani study of folklore based on the the materials and programmes of CMDRTC- Collection of materials for description of the regions and tribes of the Caucasus. The history of collection, systematization and publication of the Azerbaijani folklore is traced on the basis of the concrete facts and examples. Special attention is given to the issues of CMDRTC that contains the programme-recommendation on collection of the folklore on the basis of the scientific principles. Also emphasized are the urgency and significance of the collection of the material upon the subject groups and appropriate tables. When putting the scientific principles of collection and systematization of the folklore material into practice it is possible to involve more specialists in collection activity and thereby preserve more beautiful examples of folk creation.
Key words: Azerbaijani study of folklore, collection of folklore, CMDRTC, programme-recommendation, scientific principles, subject grouping.
At present the folklore problems are very important and urgent. It is known that studies research the regularities of the development of folklore, character, nature, subjects of folk creation, its specific and common features in comparison with other kinds of art, peculiarities of oral texts, genre system and poetics. There are certain periods and stages of its formation and development - from the ancient times to the new period of the 20th-21th centuries.
The Azerbaijani study of folklore traces and researches the process of formation, development, functioning, transformation of genres and genre system during the different historical periods taking into consideration the peculiarities of traditions, poetics styles and also analyses the certain works and complete genre - poetic system in synchronic and diachronic aspects. We think that at present it isn't advisable to classify the period of the 20th-21th centuries in the Azerbaijani study of folklore as a new one.
As soon as Azerbaijan became a sovereign and independent state, a new stage in the Azerbaijani people's life thinking, new social-political views began. This stage should be regarded as the "newest stage" in the Azerbaijani study of folklore.
The XXI century named "the newest stage" is characterized by the close connection between the Azerbaijani folklore and social-political views of this period. The Azerbaijani folklore is formed and enriched according to the essence of the newest stage.
At present it is possible to study and research the Azerbaijani folklore on the basis of scientific principles regardless of social-political pressing.
It is known that folklore is a national sphere of people's artistic thinking. Folklore reflects poetic thinking, artistic imagination, peoples' knowledge, wisdom, creation and it is the most valuable mental property that always develops and gets richer. The Azerbaijani folklore is varied and there are a lot of genres in it. Azerbaijani people created wonderful folklore samples that reflect social diversity of life.
At the present newest stage of national independence the Azerbaijani folklore must be collected, studied and researched on the basis of the principles according to the spirit of the age. Moreover, the Azerbaijani folklore created, collected and published according to social-political, sociological, geographical situations in the Azerbaijani people's history must be gone through again and studied in the light of demands of the new stage on the basis of appropriate scientific-theoretical principles. It is caused by some important and serious reasons.
The urgent task of study of folklore is collection and publication of folklore. There is no exact date of beginning of collection of folklore material in Azerbaijan. Though some samples of the different folklore genres have been preserved in the ancient manuscripts, anthologies, written monuments, they can't be regarded as serious and scientific work on collection of folklore. Perhaps such work was done by some connoisseurs of folklore, but unfortunately we don't have them at our disposal. For example, there are the richest folklore samples in Nizami's "Khamsa". It is known that most parables, legends, stories,
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proverbs, sayings reflected in novels, expressed in verse are from folklore.
In Nizami's work "Treasury of mysteries" people's creation is a source of all the stories. The main subject and motive of each of these works are in the oral literature, and this suggestion has been confirmed.
Sheikh Nizami Ganjavi hasn't likely heard all of them orally. Perhaps he wrote samples of these legends and parables, or maybe he collected them himself among the people and skillfully used them in his works.
These facts show that history of collection and registration of the Azerbaijani folklore began from the ancient times, perhaps from the middle ages. Unfortunately, we don't have at our disposal any ancient manuscripts that reflect collection of the different folklore genres, each separately.
Some samples of the Azerbaijani folklore were collected, translated into Russian and published in the Russian press in the 1930s of the 20th century. The concrete facts confirm it. The collection, translation and publication of the Azerbaijan folklore parallel with the original on the basis of the scientific principles began and consistently continued from the 1980s of the 20th century on the initiative of CMDRTC-$5ollection of Materials for Description of the Regions and Tribes of the Caucasus.
The results of our research show that there are both the richest factual material and the experience on collection of the material in this collection that was published during 50 years.
From the XIX century, during the XX century and at present collection and publication of the Azerbaijani folklore have been in regressive and progressive rates, but the work has been continued constantly, and as a result the richest experience has been gained. Some scientists appreciated this experience; some nuances and principles of this experience were used in the work on collection, translation and publication of samples of oral literature on the following stages; some textbooks of methodics, recommendations on collection of folklore were written. Unfortunately, this process hasn't been an object of the research in the Azerbaijani study of folklore yet; the richest experience in this sphere hasn't been generalized yet.
Taking into consideration these traditions one of the most important tasks of theory of folklore at present is to research collection, publication of Azerbaijani folklore on the basis of scientific principles.
For the first time the scientific directions and principles of collection of folklore in the Caucasus region, including Azerbaijan, were brought up in CMDRTC (1881-1929). The programme on collection of data about the different regions and tribes of the Caucasus should be emphasized. Taking into
consideration the social-political, historical-ethnographical, toponymic, philological, folklore significance and essence of this programme we would like to consider some of its most important parts and sections, as it is expedient.
In the second issue of CMDRTC in 1882 appended to this programme is determined the new sphere of the collection of folklore (the member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society G. N. Protanin's article - programme "Some questions on study of popular beliefs, legends, superstitious customs and rites") [1, 15-17].
The beginning of the article deals with the cosmogonic superstitions, celestial bodies - the sun, the moon, the Milky Way, the Pole Star, Venus, constellations; with natural phenomena - thunder, lightning, rainbow; phases of the moon, solar eclipse, lunar eclipse; people's legends, beliefs connected with them. Then the matter concerns animals, plants, their names, superstitious attitude to mountains and rocks; devils, demons, dragons and other religious - mythical images; the other world, ghosts, belief connected with death and revival; some diseases and their treatment with the aid of customs, traditions, superstitions. G. Potanin thought that folklore collectors were to take all of them into consideration.
G. Potanin's article dedicated to the folklore problems, contains the practical principles of collection and interpretation of folklore that are still urgent and significant. The editors of the collection worked with such adherence and responsibility that they returned to this problem again after the XIX century.
The programme published in the first and second numbers of the collection was improved and edited again according to the new demands and was published in the 4th section of number 27 of the collection in 1900.
The programme "About Delivery of Data Dealt with the Different Regions of the Caucasus by Teachers and Other Workers of Schools to the Administration of the District" consists of two main parts. At the beginning of this programme (37 pages) are given both general instructions and names of recommended scientific and practical references.
The main purpose of reissue of the programme was to help beginning teachers and students to collect folklore material. At the same time, the new instructions entitled "Several Questions on Study of Popular Beliefs, Legends, Superstitious Customs and Rites" were published, too.
The Caucasus administration of the district attached great importance to collection of samples of people's creation and took into consideration all problems dealt with this activity and gave everything necessary for publication of folklore samples
dedicated to natural phenomena, animals, different rites and holidays in CMDRTC.
The programme was revised, supplemented and improved. It contains a succession of collections of the following data; 1) detailed historical, archaeological, ethnographical data about village, town; 2) data about location, structure, architecture, buildings of village, town; 4) data about climate and air; 5) geological peculiarities of the territory and environment; 6) kinds of wild and cultivated plants; 7) wild and domestic animals; 8) nationality, religion, activity, trades, social strata, number of population, etc. (description upon the given tables); 9) physical and moral-mental development (physical structure, appearance, character of men and women; structure of family, attitude to person, language, script, culture: legends, popular beliefs connected with Buddhism, Christianity, (Islam - S.O.), population's intellectual activity, religion, sects, charity, etc.; 10) men's and women's mode of life (home and social activity, relations between the members of family, buildings of dwelling houses, household and public buildings, men's, women's and children's clothes), cookery; rites, rituals, local and national customs, traditions connected with marriage, wedding, childbirth, funeral and other events, for example: kidnapping, blood feud; level of financial position, hygiene and sanitary science, methods of treatments: folk medicine, sorcerers; attitude to fortunetellers, popular beliefs, herbs; population's occupation: cattle-breeding, poultry-farming, pisciculture, gardening, beekeeping, hunting, trade, navigation, crafts, etc; 11) methods and means of rearing and education, school, enlightenment, attitude to boys' and girls' bringing up, religious and secular education, etc. 12) administration and administrative structure ...
The annotation of this part of the programme recommends to send the detailed plan, photo of town, village, photos of men and women, pictures, drawings, graphic description, photos of all interesting things, originals and copies of historical subjects, manuscripts and originals or translations into Russian of the texts of songs, legends, tales, proverbs, sayings [2, 1-24].
G. N. Potanin's article "Some questions on study of popular beliefs, legends, superstitious customs and rites" appended to the programme, published in the 2nd issue of the Collection and supplemented consists of four parts: "Popular beliefs", "Names", "Legends and Beliefs", "Rites". Each of these parts is divided into subject subtitles.
As in the presented text folklore notions and terms often replace one another, we have to use adjacent notions. Under the subtitle "Names" are enumerated the names of all kinds of wild animals, birds, reptiles, insects, fish and it is required to collect legends and stories about the reality of their spreading.
The part "Legends and Popular Beliefs" demands collection of folklore materials that reflect the themes of certain tales, for example: the wise tsar Solomon (prophet Suleyman - S.O.), the quest for alive and dead water, the birds choosing their shah, the Flood, creation of the world and first man, step-mother and a child escaped from the house, princess-frog, brave fellow brought to ruin by khan, shah, tsar, etc. (mainly fairy tales are meant - S.O.).
The part "Legends about Spirits" recommends collection of legends, stories, popular beliefs that reflect prejudices and superstitions, for example: hobgoblins, goblins of the woods, water-sprites, ghosts living in the mountains, one-eyed devil, goblins that milk animals and women, demons, werewolves, mermaids, ogres, sleep-walkers, nightmares, death, diseases, the other world, fortune, book of life, etc.
The part "Rites" contains the detailed description of the rites of sacrifice for fire-water, mountain, exorcism; the concrete days and time when it is sin to work or take something out of the house. This part is also about collection of material about the different traditions according to the people's calendar, ceremonies connected with cosmogonic phenomena, child-bearing: about prayers, songs, cradle-songs, popular beliefs connected with pregnant women, about fraternization, foster-brother, foster-sister, oaths, ritual songs and dances around the animal caught at hunting, about shepherds' songs and rites, children's games, songs, cradle-songs, tales, riddles, fingers' names, flowers, beetles, animals, birds, rain and other natural phenomena, celestial bodies: the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, lightning; fire-hearth etc.; legends and stories connected with clan, generation, nation, people, tribes, etc. [2, 25-37].
The content of this programme: variety of material that is to be collected testifies to the scientific, literary, artistic, folklore, ethnographic and social-historical significance of CMDRTC that was published from 1881 to 1915 (publication of this collection was stopped on issue № 44 because of circumstances of the war time. This collection became so necessary in the history of study of the Caucasus that they tried to continue its publication repeatedly. Only in 1926 owing to the Association of the North Caucasus ethnographic organizations in Mahachkala the issue № 45 was published, and in 1929 the issue № 46 was published).
Certainly, CMDRTC contains the vast material on history, archaeology, linguistics and ethnography of the Caucasus. The Caucasus people's dictionaries and texts, legends, songs, articles and materials about the Caucasus people's and nationalities' life are of the most interest. The information about their written language, way of life, customs, traditions, etc. was published in the multivolume work. For the first time
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the rules and principles of the systematic collection of material on the scientific basis have been determined in CMDRTC.
In the middle of the 20th century one of the outstanding Azerbaijani folklore specialists Khanafi Zeynalli touched upon this problem, too, expressed a high opinion of the activity of CMDRTC and emphasized the recommendations and principles of collection of folklore material, its systematization and translation into other languages [3, 116-117].
Certainly, interest in the folklore has steadily increased in Azerbaijan. It has advanced for several reasons, one of which is desire for preservation of oral creation of people living in the different regions of the republic [4; 5]. The work on collection, systematization of the folklore material, description of new
anthroponyms, ethnonyms, etc. is to be organized. There are quite a lot of samples of poetic-lyric folklore genres created by refugees and forced settlers from Nagorno-Karabakh. There are plenty of people's poems, songs, verses, wailing songs, stories dedicated to the Karabakh War, personality and activity of the Azerbaijani national leader Heydar Aliyev.
We think that the ultimate goal of the collection work is systematization, publication of the collected material, its correct preservation, further comprehensive study and research. When putting the scientific principles of collection and systematization of folklore material into practice it is possible to involve more specialists in collection activity and preserve more intentionally beautiful samples of people's creations.
References
1. SMOMPK- Sbornik materialov dlya opisaniya mestnostey ipiemen Kavkaza [CMDRTC - Collection of materials for description of the regions and tribes of the Caucasus]. Tiflis Publ.,1982, issue 2, part 1 (in Russian).
2. SMOMPK - Sbornik materialov dlya opisaniya mestnostey i piemen Kavkaza [CMDRTC-Collection of materials for description of the regions and tribes of the Caucasus]. Tiflis Publ.,1990, issue 27, part 4 (in Russian).
3. Zeynalli Kh. Izbrannye trudy (sobiratel' I izdatel' kandidat filol. nauk R. Tagiyev) [Selected works (the collector and publisher candidate of philological science R. Tagiyev)]. Baku, 1982 (in Azerbaijan).
4. Orujeva S. H. Azerbaydzhanskiy detskiy fol'klore v SMOMPK - sbornike materialov dlya opisaniya mestnostey i plemen Kavkaza [Azerbaijan children's folklore in "The collection of materials for description of districts and tribes of the Caucasus"]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta - TSPU Bulletin, 2013, no. 3 (131), pp. 111-114 (in Russian).
5. Orujeva S. H. SMOMPK - sbornik materialov dlya opisaniya mestnostey i plemen Kavkaza i ego vklad v sokhraneniye azerbaydzhanskogo fol'klora [CMDRTC - "Collection of materials for description of the regions and tribes of the Caucasus and its contribution to preservation of the Azerbaijan folklore"]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta - TSPU Bulletin, 2013, no. 7, pp. 114-119 (in Russian).
Orujeva Sahar Hidayat qizi. Baku State University.
Ul. Z. Khalilova, 23, Baku, Respublika Azerbaijan, AZ 1148. E-mail: [email protected]
Материал поступил в редакцию 17.07.2015.
Сахар Хидаят гызы Оруджева
ПРОБЛЕМЫ И ЗАДАЧИ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ АЗЕРБАЙДЖАНСКОЙ ФОЛЬКЛОРИСТИКИ
Рассматриваются важнейшие и актуальные задачи современной азербайджанской фольклористики на основе материалов, программ и рекомендаций СМОМПК - сборник материалов для описания местностей и племен Кавказа. На основе конкретных фактов и примеров прослеживается история сбора, систематизации и издания образцов азербайджанского фольклора. Особое внимание уделяется выпускам СМОМПК, содержащим программу-рекомендацию по сбору фольклора на основе научных принципов. Отмечается актуальность и значимость данной программы, предусматривающей сбор материала по тематическим группам и соответствующим таблицам. Реализуя на практике научные принципы сбора и систематизации фольклорного материала, можно вовлечь в собирательскую деятельность большое количество специалистов и сохранить как можно больше прекрасных образцов народного творчества.
Ключевые слова: азербайджанская фольклористика, сбор фольклора, СМОМПК, программа-рекомендация, научные принципы, тематичeская группировка.
Список литературы
1. СМОМПК- 2-й выпуск, 1-й раздел, Тифлис, 1882.
2. СМОМПК - 27-й выпуск, 4-й раздел, Тифлис, 1900.
3. Зейналлы Х. Избранные труды (собиратель и издатель кандидат филол. наук Р. Тагиев). Баку, 1982 (на азербайджанском языке).
4. Оруджева С. Х. Азербайджанский детский фольклор в СМОМПК - сборнике материалов для описания местностей и племен Кавказа // Вестник Томского гос. пед. ун-та (TSPU Bulletin). 2013. № 3 (131). С. 111-114.
5. Оруджева С. Х. СМОМПК - сборник материалов для описания местностей и племен Кавказа и его вклад в сохранение азербайджанского фольклора // Вестн. Томского гос. пед. ун-та (TSPU Bulletin). Томск. 2013. № 7. С. 114-119.
Оруджева С. Х., доктор филологических наук, зав. кафедрой. Бакинский государственный университет.
Ул. Академика Захида Халилова, 23, Баку, Республика Азербайджан, AZ 1148. E-mail: [email protected]
