Correccions

Abstract for scientific essay

• Over the past 20 years, stagnant trends have emerged in the study of the religious life of the Evenki people in China.

• This phenomenon is expressed both at the level of the material itself and at the level of theories applied to the material.

• As for the material, the problem is this: the collection of new data has practically stopped, and the existing ones are simply rewritten by the authors from book to book.

• In addition, Chinese literature about the Evenki religion suffers from the fact that deities and rituals are often given in a continuous list, which makes it unclear which of the three (and in fact four - each with its own significant features of religious life) Evenki groups in China they belong to.

• The problem with theories is that Chinese scientists mainly use theories from the early 20th century (for example, Lévy-Bruhl animism).

• Thus, the theoretical understanding of the already collected material actually stands still.

• In addition, Chinese science uses as something beyond doubt the theory of the Baikal origin of the Evenki (its author is G.M.

• Vasilevich), taken from Soviet ethnography of the 60s.

• Because of this, rituals are perceived only as eccentricities or means of preserving ethnic identity, and fairy tales that reveal the meaning of rituals become only “folklore heritage.” Meanwhile, both of the problems described above are easily solved by turning to the materials of Russian scientists on similar elements of the religion and folklore of the Evenki of Russia (39,000 Evenki live in Russia), as well as to theories (Russian and originating from other not Chinese countries), which do not necessarily have their roots in the study Evenki.

• If we move to the level of specifics, the problem of material is solved through a comparison of the main ritual and folklore complexes between the Evenki of Russia and China.

• In total, four such complexes will be studied in this work: these are the cults of the bear, deer, Bainachi (山神父) and the Fox Saint.

• These cults were chosen by the author because as a result of his field research, it was found that they are the most widely professed among the Evenks (or played such a role in the past, as was the case with the cult of the deer).