The Concept of «Apple» in Folklore Consciousness (a Case Study of Bashkir Folk Art)

  • Нэркэс Ахметовна Хуббитдинова Уфимский федеральный исследовательский центр РАН Email: narkas08@mail.ru
Keywords: motif, concept, apple, fairy tale, epic, artistic function, symbol of life, Paradise fruits, artistic universal of cultures

Abstract

The Apple has always had a symbolic character in the culture of the peoples of the world since the ancient times. This is also the case with the Bashkirs. The traditional concept of «apple», as well as the motif of «choosing a betrothed by giving him an apple» have found artistic and aesthetic reflection in folk tales and the Bashkir epic Ural-Batyr and perform significant ideological and artistic functions there. The author has set the task of identifying these artistic forms and revealing their features in a folk art work.

To complete the task we have considered fairy tales that contained the concept of the apple and developed the motif of «choosing a betrothed by gifting him with an apple», as well as the Bashkir folk epic Ural-Batyr, in which these plot devices were most clearly given an artistic and aesthetic interpretation.

As a result, it was found that the traditional concept of «apple» and the associated motif of «choosing a betrothed by giving him an apple» are artistic elements universal for the folklore of different peoples and perform significant ideological and artistic functions in the work.

The author connects the uniqueness and distinction of the concept of apple in Bashkir fairy tales with the life and routine of rural people, who are mostly bearers of oral poetic folk art. Since ancient times folklore has developed a special attitude to the apple as a «scarce» fruit in life and a treasure in a fairy tale, so it is gold and magic. The latter is a sacred motif, known in the folklore of other peoples and its roots go back to the Ancient Greek mythology. Having thus become a migrant concept and having incorporated into a well-known motif, the apple took the form of a traditional artistic formula for attaining happiness and well-being.

Identifying and studying such concepts or motifs in Bashkir folklore which are universal and traditional for many peoples would allow us to consider it as part of the artistic universe of cultures.

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Author Biography

Нэркэс Ахметовна Хуббитдинова, Уфимский федеральный исследовательский центр РАН

главный научный сотрудник института истории, языка и литературы

References

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Башкирское народное творчество: Эпос. Уфа, 1973. Кн. 2.

Башкирское народное творчество: волшебно-героические сказки. Уфа, 1976. Т. 2.

Троянская война // Мифы народов мира. М., 1988. Кн. 2. К-Я.

Урал-батыр // Башкирский народный эпос: Эпос народов СССР. М., 1977.

Фадеева Л.В. «Яблоневый сад» А.Н. Островского (о народно-поэтических основах комедии «Правда – хорошо, а счастье – лучше») // Традиционная культура. 2006. № 1.

Фрезер Дж. Фольклор в Ветхом завете. М., 1985.

Published
2020-03-04
How to Cite
Хуббитдинова Н. А. The Concept of «Apple» in Folklore Consciousness (a Case Study of Bashkir Folk Art) // Philology & Human, 2020, № 1. P. 79-83 DOI: 10.14258/filichel(2020)1-08. URL: http://journal.asu.ru/pm/article/view/6448.
Section
Научные сообщения
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