Transition Periods in the Udmurt Folk Calendar and Their Spirits

The article investigates the perceptions of time based on lunar and solar cycles, seasonal changes in nature, and the rhythm of agricultural work. The key events of the annual cycle in the Udmurt calendar are winter (vozhodyr/uyvozho) and summer (invozhodyr) solstices. The winter solstice period (vozhodyr, lit: transition time, crossroads / crossroads of time, the time of vozho, the time of evil spirits) and the time of the summer solstice are described. The winter period is dedicated to the winter Christmas period from January 7th to January 19th, and includes the following components: gatherings with songs and games, divination, dressing up, and mumming. The article characterises the most important events, such as mumming and masking, as well as beliefs, rituals and prohibitions connected with the spirits of the transition time. The summer solstice is connected with the image of the Mother/Foremother Invozho (In(‘)vozho-mumy), that descends from heaven to earth at that time of year. During summer solstice period the Udmurt particularly venerated heavenly powers and held calendar festivals (gershyd, gerber, gyron-bydton) in order to glorify blooming nature and peasant farmer’s labour.

About vozho, the Spirit of Transition Time and Holiness among Udmurt and Komi

This article concentrates on one very central character in Udmurt mythology. It is a character typical of the transitional time around the solstices, an ambiguous and liminal time, which requires particular caution from the humans to protect themselves from dangerous interference from the world beyond. This character, whose name, vozho, appears in the Udmurt name of these periods, vozho-dyr, the time of vozho for the winter solstice and invozho, heaven-vozho for the summer solstice, is also a water spirit. I reflect also on other water spirits and on their peculiarities. This analysis leads me to reflect on the origin and the ramifications of the concept behind vozho with its linguistic correlations, the way it is articulated and how it sheds light on the concept of holy in the Permic languages and for the Permians, Udmurt and Komi. This leads me to reflect on the correlations between liminality and holiness, the liminal places and spaces and their value, and the particular characters in the mummery festivities that characterise this transitional time and which are connected both to the spirits of the other world and to the dead ancestors, who are among the main providers of well-being in the Udmurt world.

Golden Hat of Schifferstadt

Four conical golden hats of the Late Bronze Age were discovered in southern Germany and western France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Their users were probably members of a caste of priests or priestesses performing ceremonies linked to astronomical/calendrical knowledge. Another find discovered in central Germany, the Nebra bronze-gold disk, predates the golden hats by two to six centuries and has also been interpreted as an astronomical/calendrical ceremonial tool. From the burial location of the Nebra disk the Sun sets on the highest mountain of the Harz range, the Brocken, on the summer solstice. Here we investigate whether the burial location of the Schifferstadt golden hat also had an astronomical meaning. Our results make it possible to hypothesise that the Schifferstadt location was a natural astronomical/calendrical viewing place with the same function as several prehistoric circular enclosures, but where the natural hilly horizon of the Odenwald and the Palatinate Forest replaced the artificial horizon of the enclosures.

Czytankowy heroizm, niewygodny rewizjonizm czy historyczny realizm? O różnych drogach polityki pamięci we współczesnym polskim kinie historycznym — rekonesans

This paper aims to reflect on various aspects of memory politics present in contemporary historical cinema. All films depicting the past carry certain theses or thoughts of a political nature meant to strengthen the contemporary discourse on Polish (and not only) history. The paper presents analyses of three sorts of memory politics: pedagogy of pride, pedagogy of shame and visual historiography (historiophoty). The black-and-white heroism referred to as the reading book heroism presented in Caroline (Karolina), History of Roj (Historia Roja), Broken ear of grain (Zerwany kłos) and in The Outcast (Wyklęty) are examples of pedagogy of pride, favoured by the current Polish authorities from the Law and Justice party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość). Such works as the Oscar-winning Ida, Summer solstice (Letnie przesilenie) and Consent (Zgoda) are, in turn, emanations of the so-called pedagogy of shame and can be seen as a reference to the message of ambiguous masterpieces from the period of the ‘Polish film school’, in particular to the artistic output of Andrzej Munk. A separate place is to be dedicated to historical works by Wojciech Smarzowski, who in Rose (Róża) and Volhynia (Wołyń) consistently creates visually credible tales of history in order to reflect in a general manner on the non-existent world of the past and ordinary people living therein. The main conclusion of the article is the statement that historical politics functioning in films depicting the past is meant to be a temporary intervention which may function in a long-term perspective only, given the high artistic quality of the artwork. Otherwise the movie quickly falls into oblivion and loses its influence on the collective social memory.

Transcending time and place in the context of Covid-19

During 2020, because of Covid-related restrictions, opportunities to travel to sacred heritage sites dramatically decreased and Pagans’ and shamans’ gatherings and rituals necessarily moved online. This article picks up from an earlier paper (Rountree, 2006) to reconsider relationships between time, place, imagination and ritual performance in the online context. It argues that whereas in the context of “real” heritage sites, the temporal boundary between past and present seems to blur or dissolve as a result of Pagans’ embodied, material connections with a sacred place, in the online ritual context boundaries of place blur or dissolve because of synchronous temporal connections with likeminded others in sacred space. Two case studies are explored: the responses of those who gathered online to witness English Heritage’s livestreaming of Summer Solstice 2020 at Stonehenge, and the experiences of a group of modern Western shamans, mostly living in Malta, whose regular meetings shifted from members’ homes, places in nature and sacred heritage sites to Zoom in early 2020.

Ecological Feedback Effects Affecting Arctic Biodiversity in Response to Glacial Melt

A changing Arctic The Arctic is a geographic region situated in the northernmost part of earth. It marks the latitude above which the sun does not set on the summer solstice and does not rise on the winter solstice. The Arctic is considered an area within the Arctic Circle that draws an imaginary line that …

Veitstu hvé blóta skal? The Old Norse blót in the Light of Osteological Remains from Frösö Church, Jämtland, Sweden

The osteological remains from Frösö Church, Jämtland, have been re-analysed in order to understand the Viking Age rituals at the site and to study the blót, the Old Norse sacrifice and feast. Radiocarbon analyses of ani- mal and human bones date the rituals to the late Viking Age. A taphonomic study shows that especially brown bear and pig were of importance in the rituals. Butcher- ing marks reveal the processing of the carcasses as well as feasting. Further, bones and not whole carcasses seem to have been deposited on the ground. Human remains have been treated differently from the animal bones and may represent disturbed burials rather than sacrifices. Seasonal analysis indicates that the rituals took place in late autumn, early spring, and possibly around the summer solstice. The results of the osteological analy- ses are also discussed in relation to the written sources about the Old Norse blót.

Multi-model Meteorological and Aeolian Predictions for Mars 2020 and the Jezero Crater Region

Nine simulations are used to predict the meteorology and aeolian activity of the Mars 2020 landing site region. Predicted seasonal variations of pressure and surface and atmospheric temperature generally agree. Minimum and maximum pressure is predicted at $\text{Ls}\sim 145^{\circ}$ Ls ∼ 145 ∘ and $250^{\circ}$ 250 ∘ , respectively. Maximum and minimum surface and atmospheric temperature are predicted at $\text{Ls}\sim 180^{\circ}$ Ls ∼ 180 ∘ and $270^{\circ}$ 270 ∘ , respectively; i.e., are warmest at northern fall equinox not summer solstice. Daily pressure cycles vary more between simulations, possibly due to differences in atmospheric dust distributions. Jezero crater sits inside and close to the NW rim of the huge Isidis basin, whose daytime upslope (∼east-southeasterly) and nighttime downslope (∼northwesterly) winds are predicted to dominate except around summer solstice, when the global circulation produces more southerly wind directions. Wind predictions vary hugely, with annual maximum speeds varying from 11 to $19~\text{ms}^{-1}$ 19 ms − 1 and daily mean wind speeds peaking in the first half of summer for most simulations but in the second half of the year for two. Most simulations predict net annual sand transport toward the WNW, which is generally consistent with aeolian observations, and peak sand fluxes in the first half of summer, with the weakest fluxes around winter solstice due to opposition between the global circulation and daytime upslope winds. However, one simulation predicts transport toward the NW, while another predicts fluxes peaking later and transport toward the WSW. Vortex activity is predicted to peak in summer and dip around winter solstice, and to be greater than at InSight and much greater than in Gale crater.

Linguistic Representation of the Concept of Sun in the Linguoculture of the Peoples of the North (Based on the Yakut and Yukaghir Languages)

The object of the research is the concept of the sun: in the Yakut language - kyn, in the tundra Yukagir language - yerpeye and in the forest Yukaghir language - yeloodye. The article deals with lexical representatives and stable phrases; the motivating, conceptual, figurative features and derivational paradigms of the studied concept are established; applied etymological analysis of words, cognitive approach and conceptual methods of concept research. The concept of the sun is presented in different ways in the linguistic picture of the world of peoples. The description and explanation of the peculiarities of the concept of the sun in the national linguistic picture of the world of the Sakha and Yukaghir people in a comparative-comparative plan seems relevant for conceptual linguistics. As a result of the study, only positive signs of the concept of the sun were noted in both linguocultures. The scope of the linguistic representation of the concept of kyn in the Yakut language is diverse, while the content level is characterized by different options. A large number of derivative words with the lexeme kyn in the Yakut language indicate the cultural significance of this concept. Since ancient times, the Sakha people and the Yukaghirs had a cult of the main heavenly body of the sun, which continues to the present day. The Sakha and Yukaghir people celebrate the Ysyakh and Shahadyibe holidays on the summer solstice, marking the beginning of a new annual cycle. During the holiday, abundance, peace, harmony and love are demonstrated to the main deity, the sun, thereby asking the sun for well-being for the coming year. Thus, the sun is a key concept for these northern peoples. Keywords: linguoculture, concept sun, concept kyn, concept yerpeye/yeloodye, Yakut language, Yukaghir language, concept-forming lexeme