The image of a squirrel in the traditional culture of the Buryats

The relevance of the topic is determined by the need to preserve the intangible cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia, including knowledge about their traditional picture of the world, which includes folk views about wild fauna. In the mythological representations of the peoples of Eurasia, the squirrel is a common zoomorphic image, which is associated with its wide range of habitat and the utilitarian meaning that it had as a fur-bearing animal. In buryat ethnography, this topic has not been considered before. The aim of the work is to reconstruct the complex of buryat folk beliefs about the squirrel with the definition of its symbolism and to clarify the representation of the image of this animal in their traditional rituals. The sources for the research are ethnographic-folklore and linguistic information, especially ethnographic and folklore materials collected by N. N. Agapitov, S. P. Baldaev, Ya. I. Lindenau, etc. The main linguistic material is obtained from the two-volume dictionary “Buryad-orod toil “ (2010). The author s field materials are of an auxiliary nature. The main method of research is the structural-semiotic method, which provides for the determination of values, including squirrel. The methodological basis of the work was the works of A. K. Bayburin, P. G. Bogatyrev, A.V. Gura and others. It is proved that the squirrel was a revered wild animal among the buryats. It is revealed that the image of this animal is ambiguous and characterized by ambivalence of connotation. It was determined that this animal was endowed with heavenly, feminine and producing symbols, and received a positive connotation. In addition, it was found out that in the epic of the buryats, some ornithomorphism was attributed to the image of a squirrel. At the same time, he also receives a negative connotation: the motive of the soul of the enemy of the cultural hero was associated with him; he was perceived as a sign of trouble. The image of the squirrel can be traced in family rituals, in the rituals of shamans and hunters. In family rituals, fetishes are associated with it (Ekhe Toodei, Khermeshi-noyon and Bulgasha-khatan, etc.), endowed with a protective function. In shaman rituals, he is perceived as an assistant spirit, an animal dedicated to the patron spirit, and his skin was also considered an attribute of the shaman (an emblem of the clan).