Mari of Udmurtia: Factors of Preserving Traditional Culture in Modern Conditions

The factors of preservation and intergenerational transmission of the traditional culture of the local group of Mari living in the territory of Udmurtia in a different ethnic environment is examined in the article. The source basis of the article was the field ethnographic materials collected in 2007 among the Mari of the Karakulinsky region of the Udmurt Republic and introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The socio-economic situation of the respondents, the established mechanisms of adaptation to market relations, the preservation of traditional rituals and holidays, material and spiritual culture, the use of the native language, ethno-demographic processes, the activities of the Mari community to support ethnic culture are showed in the work. The author notes that the historically formed mechanism for ensuring the viability of the Mari society includes practices of demographic behavior, ethnic socialization of youth, reproduction of elements of spiritual and religious culture (prayers, family and calendar rituals, songs) and the material world (national costume, elements of architecture, musical instruments, national cuisine), the use of the Mari language. It has been proven that the ritual sphere of the Mari is undergoing transformations, but at the same time it continues to remain an inseparable part of the life of the people. In the course of the work, it was also revealed that the local group of Mari in modern conditions for self-preservation needs to constantly generate ethnic markers based on traditional culture. The key role in this is assigned to the village community, educational institutions and public organizations.

TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND RITES OF SHESHKUPS / SHESHKUMS ACCORDING TO THE DATA OF FIELD ETHNOGRAPHIC MATERIALS OF THE XX–XXI CENTURIES

Данная статья посвящена исследованию вопроса о традиционных воззрениях и обрядах этнографической (диалектно-локальной) группы шёшкупов/шёшкумов. На основе анализа исследовательской литературы и полевого этнографического материала, собранного разными исследователями-селькуповедами, были выявлены факты о предназначении священных мест в окрестностях д. Иванкино. В данном исследовании удалось определить особенности религиозных верований среднеобских селькупов: они оставляли кузова с семейными лозами не только на чердаках, но и в труднопроходимой кочкарной согре, «подвешивали» духов на березе. Собранные сведения позволяют говорить о сохранении традиционных верований (представлений о домашних духах-помощниках, культовых местах) у местных жителей до конца ХХ в., о чем свидетельствуют материалы, записанные от информантов из д. Иванкино даже в XXI в. This paper is devoted to the study of the issue about traditional views and rituals of the ethnographic (dialectal-local) group of Sheshkups / Sheshkums. Facts about the purpose of sacred places in the vicinity of the village Ivankino, based on the analysis of research literature and field ethnographic material collected by various researchers-selkupologists, were revealed. In this study, it was possible to determine the peculiarities of the religious beliefs of the Middle Ob Selkups: they left baskets with family figures of spirits-helpers not only in attics, but also in almost impassable hillock sogra, and “hung” spirits on birch trees. The collected information allows speaking about the preservation of traditional beliefs (ideas about domestic spirits-helpers, places of worship) among local residents until the end of the 20th century, as evidenced by materials recorded from informants of the village Ivankino even in the 21st century.

Materials of the Western Trypillia Culture From the Settlements of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Tatarysky And Kubachivka

This paper presents the results of archaeological surveys at the Western Trypillia culture sites of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Tatarysky and Kubachivka in the 1990s and the 2000s. The article considers the history of research at these settlements from their discovery (in 1926 and 1947 respectively) until the present. The authors have specifically focused upon threats faced by the Kubachivka site, which keeps being destroyed by the eponymous quarry situated nearby. The study analyzes ceramics and flint and stone tools from the settlements. Ceramics from the Kamianets-Podilskyi, Tatarysky (3950—3900 ВСЕ) is represented by table and kitchen pottery. The first is decorated with a monochromic ornamental painting (black and brown colors); the most informative tableware are craters decorated with «face patterns» that are typical for the Mereșeuca local group, Stage BII (as per Taras M. Tkachuk). Tools are made from various raw materials including granitoids, Cenomanian and Turonian flint. The collection includes items related to the production of tools and other products (the attrition mill and the powder-crusher), waste and items of artifacts secondary processing. As far as Kubachivka settlement is concerned, the sample of ceramics materials is rather poor. The most of the items are not sufficiently intact. Upon having analyzed materials, we have been able to confirm the preliminary conclusions of prior researches. Stonework artifacts are also represented in a modest quantity of 9 pcs. These mostly include polished items as well as a hammered stone, plates, and suchlike. In our opinion, the ceramic artifacts discovered thereby should be ascribed to two chronological horizons, specifically: the BI—II and the BII stages. Further investigations will enable more precise chronologies.

Investigations at the Trypillia settlement near Hlybochok village in Cherkasy Oblast

The Trypillia settlement is located at the western edge of Hlybochok village (former Zvenyhorodka district of Cherkasy Oblast), at the plateau of the western bank of the Hirskyi Tikych River. According to the geophysical surveys, the settlement size reached 100 ha. Its dwellings were organized into two ellipses. The remains of two dwellings (ploshchadki) were excavated in 1994—1995. Ploshchadka No. 1 was located in the southern part of the external construction ellipse, while ploshchadka No. 2 was located in the second internal ellipse at the eastern part of the site. The remains of both houses had a rectangular shape and included several layers of burnt clay. Houses had fireplaces on the lower storey. The second house also included an elevation of rectangular shape with grinding stones. Living areas are associated with the upper storey of houses. The majority of materials, mainly kitchen and table pottery, were found between the layers of burnt clay. Kitchen pottery (6—7 %) is represented by conical bowls and pots with S-shaped profiles with poor ornamentation. Table pottery (92—93 %) is represented by ceramics ornamented with black monochromic painting. Nearly 45 % of pottery forms and 25 % of ornamentation schemes were reconstructed. Ceramic shapes are represented by bowls, goblets, biconical, spherical and conical vessels, amphorae, pear-shaped vessels, leads, craters, pots and binocular-shaped vessels. Anthropomorphic figurines were found in fragments. The Hlybochok settlement is referred to the late phase of Nebelivska group (the end of BII period) of the development of the Western Trypillia culture. The settlement is dated to the range of 3925—3825 BC. The Nebelivska group marks the migration of the Western Trypillia culture populations to the north-eastern direction, towards the Middle Dnieper region. Its further development between the Ros and the Dnieper rivers resulted in the formation of Kanivska local group, which pottery is also characterized by the influence of the Eastern Trypillia traditions. In the indigenous area the Nebelivska local group was replaced by the Tomashivska group.

The Isaac Newton Telescope Monitoring Survey of Local Group Dwarf Galaxies. II. The Star-formation History of Andromeda I Derived from Long-period Variables

An optical monitoring survey in the nearby dwarf galaxies was carried out with the 2.5 m Isaac Newton Telescope. 55 dwarf galaxies and four isolated globular clusters in the Local Group were observed with the Wide Field Camera. The main aims of this survey are to identify the most evolved asymptotic giant branch stars and red supergiants at the endpoint of their evolution based on their pulsational instability, use their distribution over luminosity to reconstruct the star-formation history (SFH), quantify the dust production and mass loss from modeling the multiwavelength spectral energy distributions, and relate this to luminosity and radius variations. In this second of a series of papers, we present the methodology used to estimate SFH based on long-period variable (LPV) stars and then derive it for Andromeda I (And I) dwarf galaxy as an example of the survey. Using our identified 59 LPV candidates within two half-light radii of And I and Padova stellar evolution models, we estimated the SFH of this galaxy. A major epoch of star formation occurred in And I peaking around 6.6 Gyr ago, reaching 0.0035 ± 0.0016 M ⊙ yr−1 and only slowly declining until 1–2 Gyr ago. The presence of some dusty LPVs in this galaxy corresponds to a slight increase in recent star formation peaking around 800 Myr ago. We evaluate a quenching time around 4 Gyr ago (z < 0.5), which makes And I a late-quenching dSph. A total stellar mass (16 ± 7) × 106 M ⊙ is calculated within two half-light radii of And I for a constant metallicity Z = 0.0007.

The Sample of Red Supergiants in 12 Low-mass Galaxies of the Local Group

This work establishes the most complete sample of red supergiants (RSGs) in 12 low-mass galaxies (WLM, IC 10, NGC 147, NGC 185, IC 1613, Leo A, Sextans B, Sextans A, NGC 6822, Pegasus Dwarf, SMC, and LMC) of the Local Group, which forms a solid basis to study the properties of RSGs as well as the star formation rate and initial mass function of the galaxies. After removing the foreground dwarf stars by their obvious branch in the near-infrared color–color diagram ( J − H 0 / H − K 0 ) with the UKIRT/WFCAM and 2MASS photometry as well as the Gaia/EDR3 measurements of proper motion and parallax, RSGs are identified from their location in the color–magnitude diagram J − K 0 / K 0 of the member stars of the specific galaxy. A total of 2190 RSGs are found in 10 dwarf galaxies, and additionally, 4823 and 2138 RSGs are found in LMC and SMC, respectively. The locations of the tip of the red giant branch in the J − K 0 / K 0 diagram are determined to serve as an indicator of the metallicity and distance modulus of the galaxies.

Pay-it-forward to improve influenza vaccine uptake and public engagement among children and older adults in China

China has low seasonal influenza vaccination rates among children and older adults. This quasi-experimental pragmatic trial examined the effectiveness of a pay-it-forward intervention on influenza vaccine uptake compared to standard of care (user-paid vaccination) and free vaccination strategies among children and older people in China (ChiCTR2000040048). In pay-it-forward, people receive a free influenza vaccine from a local group and are then asked if they would like to donate financially to promote vaccination among future individuals. Among 450 participants enrolled, 55/150 (36.7%) in the standard of care arm, 111/150 (74.0%) in the pay-it-forward arm, and 114/150 (76.0%) in the free vaccination arm received an influenza vaccine. Similar trends were observed among children and older adults. The pay-it-forward arm had significantly higher vaccine confidence when compared to the standard of care arm. In the pay-it-forward arm, 107/111 (96.4%) of participants donated money for subsequent vaccinations and 19 of 60 invited (31.7%) created postcard messages.