하카스인과 알타이인의 토끼 신물 비교 연구

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to comparatively study hare fetish of the Khakas and Altaians. The symbolic meaning of the hare in the traditional ideas of many peoples around the world is twofold. On the one hand, hare express positive symbolic meanings such as agility, wisdom, fertility and abundance, and on the other hand, they express negative symbolic meanings such as fear, misfortune, magic, and the underworld. Due to negative notions about hares, many peoples around the world believed that if a rabbit ran across the road, it was an omen of misfortune, and there was a custom of turning back or performing a magical act of escape before continuing go on the road. However, in the case of the Khakas, Tuvans, Altai, and Buryat people in the Sayan-Altai region, white hares were considered sacred beings related to heaven, and they made sacred objects to protect their families from white hare skins and placed them in their homes and performed rituals. The cult of hare of the Khakas, Tuvans, and Buryat people are very similar in terms of status, function, and form. The basic function of the hare fetish is to protect the family from diseases and help with hunting and other livelihoods. And the cause of occurrence of this fetish is also the same. The Khakas people’s hare symbol was spread from the Buryat people, and the Tuvans’ hare symbol was adopted from the Khakas people, so it shows similarities in many ways. Meanwhile, Yayik, the white hare fetish of Altaians, is the symbol of the son or daughter of the supreme god Ulgen, who come down to earth and stay to protect people from all bad things. Additionally, the name Yaiyk appears as a god in charge of water in the mythology and beliefs of many Turkic peoples. In this paper, we compared the hare fetish of the Khakas and Altai people, who show relatively clear differences in their ideas about hare and hare fetish, and confirmed their differences in origin and status.