For our ancestors, who spent almost a year, with the exception of only three summer months, in their dark booth, the fireplace was not only a source of heat and a stove for cooking, but also the focus of all the most interesting things that happened in the yurt.
In the evenings, sitting near the fireside, they talked about life, told stories and tales, sewed, patched up clothes, children played side by side … Yakuts believed that children who had not yet learned to speak could talk with fire, and sometimes in some controversial moments people asked by the fire through their babies and by the click of the fire they could judge one or another answer. According to the beliefs of the Aiyy teachings, fire - one of the five varieties of Eige (the sphere of life that is constantly burning, one of the most subtle spheres) - serves as a kind of "translator" between the spirits of Aiyy and ordinary mortals. According to legend, Yuryung Toyon, the supreme deity, had seven sons. The youngest - Tanha Dyaralax * - was the Spirit of Fire, it was he who gave the people of the Middle World fire. Apparently, therefore, the Spirit of Fire protected households from all kinds of hardships and misfortunes. Our ancestors called this kyureluyur (kyureo - hedge, fence). For example, if a shaman entered the yurt, and he used to enter through the back side and the transverse mat of the door, and if he had bad intentions, he would go out under the fire-place. In this case, if this is a happy family, an ember jumps out of the fireside like an arrow. The shaman, in whom the coal fell, dies from non-healing skin ulcers. Many researchers of the life of the Yakuts wrote that before going on the road or before a decisive event, the Yakuts sat down in front of the fire and wondered by its sound. “The fire was already cracking hard, apparently I’m plotting a non-worthwhile business,” the man said and abandoned the planned business or road.like an arrow, a coal jumps out. The shaman, in whom the coal fell, dies from non-healing skin ulcers. Many researchers of the life of the Yakuts wrote that before going on the road or before a decisive event, the Yakuts sat down in front of the fire and wondered by its sound. “The fire crackled violently, apparently, I was planning a non-worthwhile business,” the man said and refused the planned business or road.like an arrow, a coal jumps out. The shaman, in whom the coal fell, dies from non-healing skin ulcers. Many researchers of the life of the Yakuts wrote that before going on the road or before a decisive event, the Yakuts sat down in front of the fire and wondered by its sound. “The fire crackled violently, apparently, I was planning a non-worthwhile business,” the man said and refused the planned business or road.
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In the old days, even before the arrival of the Russian Cossacks, one Meginian named Suodyah set off on the road in search of other fertile lands. He came to Yana, crossed the Sartang River and climbed the Hayykaan bend above the city of Verkhoyansk. It was a completely wild land that had not yet been inhabited by people. Suodyaah dismounted from his horse and struck a fire with a flint and let it fall, reciting the incantation: "If people, cows and horses can live on this earth, let the fire that I have ignited go out and smolder for three whole years!" After the allotted time, the man returns to Hayykaan and, to his joy, sees that the fire is still smoldering. He finds a small round clearing nearby and drives a serge * into the middle of it. And again he says the words of blessing: “Here, in these places, my betrothed will come and tie her horse to this hitching post! My children and grandchildren will be born here. For nine centuries my family will continue here - and let this serge stand, without breaking, during this time! " And so it happened: the Verkhoyansk Yakuts went from this person, which became a separate ulus.
And here is the story of an old man from the Churapchinsky ulus, who tells how he began to predict by fire:
- There was a man nicknamed Burduktaakh * in our estate. He was poor, had a wife and one son. This poor man built a yurt in the area of Yosperyun, after which he decided to build a barn nearby. For this, he hired carpenters, and since there was nothing to feed them, he sent his wife to ask the nearest neighbors for a loan of flour, milk, or something else. The neighbors did not like the constant begging, there was talk: why the poor need two houses, why are they building another one, because there are only three of them? One day neighbors came to my wife and started talking about it. Then I said: "So their son is growing up, they probably try for him!" And at this time the fire in the fireplace will crackle: “Chuut, chuut”! Out of surprise, I jumped up and said: “The son of Burduktaakh, apparently, is not a tenant in this world! Fire says so! " The women fell silent in dismay. Not even a few days have passedthe sad news spread over and over again: the son of Burduktaakh suddenly died from an accident. From then on, I began to prophesy over fire.
Sometimes the Spirit of Fire can save a person from abaasy. Once, imbued with blessed words, the Spirit of Fire saved Eksekullah himself from a woman-deryetinnik *, who, having assumed the form of a simple woman looking for a lost cow, tricked him into her family. After the spell uttered by Eksekyllah (he did not even suspect what kind of trouble he was then), the Spirit of Fire itself rolled out of the fire - Byrdya Bytyk Hatan Temierie with a long white beard. He taught Kulakovsky what to do in order not to be eaten by a female deryetinnik. The frightened man did everything as the Spirit of Fire advised him and escaped a terrible fate. True, he lived after this incident for only two years.
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However, the Spirit of Fire does not always help a person, sometimes he can cruelly teach a lesson. Especially curious and boastful. This incident happened a very long time ago, in the early years of Soviet power, so to speak, during the militant atheism, when the new masters of life, communists and Komsomol members, were actively fighting against shamanism and other prejudices of the old life. Three young Komsomol activists argued with their comrades that they would spend the night in one abandoned house, which was famous for the fact that not a single person dared even come close to it. There was a bad reputation about this woman: as if a fairly prosperous large family once lived there. They lived well and amicably, until one day the head of the family, being in a bad mood, did not greatly offend the local shaman, depriving him of the carp division during the autumn fishing. The one naturallyharbored a grudge against the arrogant prince and turned into an ardent enemy. He publicly cursed his offender with terrible words, after which the prince's children began to die one after another from some incurable disease. Neither witch doctors nor other shamans invited by the unfortunate parents helped. So the once friendly and large family ended its existence. The father died first after the death of the children, his heart could not stand such a great grief. According to rumors, before his death, he summoned his few distant relatives and ordered them at all costs to convey their dying words to the bloodthirsty shaman: he, in turn, terribly cursed his enemy. Those, knowing that otherwise the curse of the deceased would touch themselves, trembling with fear, gave the shaman all word for word. And he, they say, burst out in response simply Homeric laughter. Poor motherLeft completely alone with only one faithful family of Hamnachchit *, she lost her mind with grief and hanged herself in a hoton *.
Since then, etokh stood abandoned and frightened lonely travelers who accidentally wandered into those places.
So the Komsomol guys one autumn evening, taking with them some provisions and guns, went, as agreed, to spend the night in an abandoned etokh. They had to prove that no abaasy exists in nature, they say, all this went away along with the old remnants. Their friends saw them off until the beginning of the alaas and promised that in the morning they would wait for them at the same place.
As mentioned above, there were three daredevils. They approached an abandoned, rickety Yakut booth, with difficulty opened the slanting door covered with faded cow hide, and went inside. There was a smell of stale musty air of the old dwelling on their faces, it was terribly cold, so the first thing they decided to do was to flood the stove, which seemed to be still intact. Yes, and it was scary to sit all night in the dank darkness. The guys prepared firewood and lit the firewood. The Komsomol members either forgot or ignored the need to cast some kind of spell in order, according to the custom of their ancestors, to appease the spirit of fire. It got warmer and more fun with fire. We had dinner with some simple food brought from home and, to pass the time, began to talk. Soon they did not notice how sleep overcame them. The fire in the fireplace began to fade. It was quiet, only the snoring of sleeping people was heard. Suddenly the dying, barely smoldering flame flared up with renewed vigor, shot up with a loud crash, at the same time a naked woman with fiery red hair jumped out of the fireplace and began to throw hot coals at the guys who had awakened from fright. Those, mad with fear, ran out of the house and ran wherever they looked. They were followed by the hysterical laughter of the Abaasy woman. Two, who were hit by coals, fell on the road and remained lying in the forest. Only one escaped, and he later told what happened in the abandoned house. Those who came in the morning found the already frozen bodies of their comrades not far from the house. Those, mad with fear, ran out of the house and ran wherever they looked. They were followed by the hysterical laughter of the Abaasy woman. Two, in which coals fell, fell on the road and remained lying in the forest. Only one escaped, and he later told what happened in the abandoned house. Those who came in the morning found the already frozen bodies of their comrades not far from the house. Those, mad with fear, ran out of the house and ran wherever they looked. They were followed by the hysterical laughter of the Abaasy woman. Two, who were hit by coals, fell on the road and remained lying in the forest. Only one escaped, and he later told what happened in the abandoned house. Those who came in the morning found the already frozen bodies of their comrades not far from the house.
Yana Protodyakonova