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Extinct 'Kangienici' ethnographic unit in Chukchi and Yukaghir Red Witch folklores
Topic Started: Jul 25 2007, 06:20:55 AM (472 Views)
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There is an extinct ethnographic unit in Chukchi legends and myths. See Meserve, Ruth I.: The Red Witch (2007). They are called 'Kangienici' and assumed to have died out because of smallpox. Linguistically, they remain unidentified.

According to folklore spread in the Kolyma region, a shaman of the Kangienici themselves curses the land shortly before he dies from Russian hand. He is described as sort of one-dimensional (one eye, one hand and one foot, the words for "foot" and "leg" being identical in e.g. Russian, btw) like mythological giants elsewhere. The Red Witch appears in the direction he points at. Within the same context or alternatively, the god Chapak sends the Red Witch.

In Chukchi folklore the Red Witch is described as a small, ugly and old woman. She looks foreign, "often Russian", and is "robed in red fur". She might wait at crossroads (Sakha and "Manchurian Tungus" traditions) or follow a caravan (Chukchi and Even traditions) and touch her victims with a burning torch. Sakha and Even traditions explain that this is possible because most people can't see her. In order to "intoxicate herself"(?), she drinks human blood.

This contrasts with the Red Witch of Yukaghir folklore, who is also thought to be a Russian woman but young and beautiful. She would be led into settlements (and houses) by children whom she gave candy. Moreover, she can turn into a raven, an animal which has a very positive meaning in Chukchi but maybe not Yukaghir mythology. Then she watches out for smoke and noises which would imply human settlements. She herself is a "wandering spirit", i.e. probably thought to have no home just in search of prey. So the Yukaghirs avoided any loud noises when they feared her presence.
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