«Деревянный» огонь у чукчей

Abstract

The objective of the research is to understand the semantics of the Chukchi term "wooden", "living", or "pure" fire, which is kindled with a traditional tool from the Chukchi collection of sacred objects. The "firing board", a wooden fire starter in the form of an anthropomorphic figure, and a drill-equipped bow are the two main components of the tool. The rotation of the drill causes friction, which sets the fire. In archaic beliefs, the friction drilling method is viewed as a sacred intercourse. As such, the tool's details are personified as follows: a drill appears as a male phallus, and a "firing board" represents a woman giving birth. The ritual's culturological context can be found among the traditions of many different peoples and communities and can be explained in terms of human psychology. Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung examined the question of fire domestication from the perspective of psychoanalysis. The first concluded that in this matter, the cultural component of human nature triumphs over its instinctive part. The second believed that fire-making through drilling is a vestigial form of blood-mixing intercourse, where ritualistic unions are performed not by humans, but by symbols.