Images of cold and snow in the Ugra cultural tradition: Literary and mythopoetic aspects
https://doi.org/10.26907/2782-4756-2026-84-2-226-231
Abstract
The article presents the experience of studying images of cold and snow in Ugra literature in a mythopoetic aspect. The theoretical basis is the concept of the “Yugorsky text”, first introduced in 2019 by D. Larkovich, understood as an integral semiotic space, in which the basic mythologems and value oppositions of traditional culture are realized. Based on the works of Ugra authors (E. Aypin, Yu. Shestalov, Yu. Vella, M. Vagatova et al.), the study reveals the ambivalent semantics of the images of cold and snow, dating back to cosmogonic myths and undergoing a transformation in the literature of the 20th century. We show that snow, unlike cold, retains a predominantly positive connotation, acting as a marker of the sacred space of the taiga. Special attention is paid to the cold heat opposition as a metaphor for life and death. Often, the image of cold in the Yugorsky text is embodied in the images of characters, indicating spiritual emptiness and alienation. The article analyzes the novel by E. Aypin “Waiting for the First Snow” and its central paradox, which is included in the title: Why snow is looked forward to, despite the fact that it semantically contains a negative connotation of cold in traditional culture.
About the Author
D. D Terentyeva
Surgut State Pedagogical University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Terentyeva Daria Dmitrievna, Junior researcher
10/2 50 let VLKSM Str., Surgut, 628417
References
1. Larkovich, D. V. (2019). “Yugorskii tekst” kak literaturnaya real'nost': k postanovke problemy [“Ugra text” as a Literary Reality: Revisiting the Problem]. Vestnik ugrovedeniya. T. 9, No. 1, pp. 40–52. (In Russian)
2. Gavrilov, V. V. (2023). Kontseptosfera regional'nogo teksta (na materiale liriki Yu. Shestalova) [Conceptosphere of the Regional Text (Based on the Lyrics of Yu. N. Shestalov)]. Filologicheskii vestnik Surgutskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta. No. 1(13), pp. 57–65. (In Russian)
3. Gavrilov, V. V. (2024). Kontseptosfera bazovogo kontsepta “zima” v lirike Yu. Shestalova [Conceptosphere of the Basic Concept “Winter” in Y. Shestalov’s Lyrical Poetry]. Filologiya i kul'tura. Philology and Culture. No. 2 (76), pp. 110–115. (In Russian)
4. Petrukhin, V. Ya. (2005). Mify finno-ugrov [Myths of the Finno-Ugrians]. 463 p. Moscow, Astrel, AST, Transitkniga. (In Russian)
5. Lukina, N. V. (1990). Mify, predaniya, skazki khantov i mansi [Myths, Legends, Fairy Tales of Khanty and Mansi]. Per. s khantyiskogo, mansiiskogo, nemetskogo yazykov. Sost., predisl. i primech. N. V. Lukinoi, pod obshchei redaktsiei E. S. Novik. 568 p. Moscow, Nauka. Glavnaya redaktsiya vostochnoi literatury. (In Russian)
6. Vagatova, M. K. (2002). Moya pesnya, moya pesnya: Stikhotvoreniya, legendy, skazki [My Song, My Song: Poems, Legends, Fairy Tales]. 192 p. Ekaterinburg, Sred.-Ural. kn. izd-vo. Novoe vremya. (In Russian)
7. Aipin, E. D. (2020). Sobranie sochinenii: v 5 t. T. 1: Khanty, ili Zvezda Utrennei Zari [Collected Works: In 5 Vol. Т. 1: Khanty, or the Star of the Morning Dawn]. 404 p. Khanty-Mansiisk, Novosti Yugry. (In Russian)
8. – Vella, Y. K. (2024). Izbrannoe. Sobranie sochineniy: v 3 t. [Favorites. Collected Works: In 3 Volumes]. Vol. 1. 384 p. Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug Yugra, [b.i.]. (In Russian)
9. Vella, Y. K. (2024). Izbrannoe. Sobranie sochineniy: v 3 t. [Favorites. Collected Works: In 3 Volumes]. Vol. 2. 440 p. Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug Yugra, [b.i.]. (In Russian)
10. Larkovich, D. V. (2023). Sistema obraznykh oppozitsii v povesti E. D. Aipina “V ozhidanii pervogo snega” [The System of Figurative Oppositions in E. D. Aipin’s Story “Waiting for the First Snow”]. Filologicheskii vestnik Surgutskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta. No. 1(13), pp. 28–39. (In Russian)
11. Solovar, V. N. (2012). Natsional'naya spetsifika fragmentov yazykovoi kartiny mira “Yavleniya prirody” (na materiale kazymskogo dialekta khantyiskogo yazyka) [National Specificity of Fragments of the Linguistic Worldview “Natural Phenomena” (Based on the Material of the Kazim Dialect of the Khanty Language)]. Vestnik Kemerovskogo universiteta, No. 4 (52). T. 4. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/natsionalnaya-spetsifikafragmentov-yazykovoy-kartiny-mira-yavleniya-prirodyna-materiale-kazymskogo-dialekta-hantyyskogo-yazyka (accessed: 15.05.2026). (In Russian)
12. Kaksina, E. D. (2025). Obraznometaforicheskaya reprezentatsiya prirodnogo landshafta v yazykovoi kartine mira khantov [Figurative and Metaphorical Representation of the Natural Landscape in the Linguistic Picture of the Khanty World]. Sovremennoe pedagogicheskoe obrazovanie. No. 3, pp. 375–380. (In Russian)
13. Aipin, E. A. (2020). Sobranie sochinenii: v 5 t. T. 2: V ozhidanii pervogo snega [Collected Works: In 5 Vol. Т. 2: Waiting for the First Snow]. 416 p. KhantyMansiisk, Novosti Yugry. (In Russian)
14. Vagatova, M. K. (1996). Malen'kii Tundrovyi Chelovek: Stikhi i skazki [The Little Tundra Man: Poems and Fairy Tales]. Predislovie V. N. Solovar. 208 p. Tyumen', SoftDizain. (In Russian)
15. Kuz'mina, A. A. (2021). Spetsifika geokul'turnykh obrazov kholoda v fol'klore i literature korennykh narodov Yakutii sovetskogo perioda [The Specifics of Geocultural Images of Cold in Folklore and Literature of the Indigenous Peoples of Yakutia of the Soviet period]. Filologiya: nauchnye issledovaniya. No. 5, pp. 89–100. (In Russian)
16. Komarov, S. A. (2023). Proza Eremeya Aipina: ehtnofilologicheskii rakurs i istoricheskaya poehtika: monografiya [The Prose of Yeremey Aypin: An Ethnophilological Perspective and Historical Poetics: A Monograph]. Otv. red. S. A. Komarov. 382 p. Moscow, Nauka. (In Russian)
Review
For citations:
Terentyeva D.D. Images of cold and snow in the Ugra cultural tradition: Literary and mythopoetic aspects. Philology and Culture. 2026;(2):226-231. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.26907/2782-4756-2026-84-2-226-231
Views:
37
JATS XML
Email this article 