FEMALE CHARACTERS IN THE ROLE OF PROGENITORS AND GIVERS OF LIFE IN THE FOLKLORE OF THE CENTRAL SIBERIAN KHANTY

Kashlatova L. V.

The article analyzes folklore texts concerning the cult of the female deity, her role as the progenitor and giver of life of the Ob Ugrians. Many researchers have dedicated their works on the female deity precisely through mythological representations, where the cult of the mother goddess has a long history of existence. The research materials were folklore texts published in various collections, historical sources of famous Russian and foreign ethnographers. The author's research can be useful to folklorists, ethnographers, historians, religious scholars and students studying the language and culture of the Ob-Ugric peoples, and can also be used in the preparation of theoretical materials on the history and culture of the peoples of Western Siberia.

Keywords:female deities, Mother goddess, progenitor, "first ancestor", Kattas them, Numi Torum, sredneobskie khanty