TATAR FOLKLORE
TATAR FOLKLORE in the Republic of Bashkortostan. Includes epic genres (fairytale, legend, lore, bylichka, anecdote), lyro-epic (bayt), lyrical (lyrical song, munazhat, chastushka), aphoristic (proverb, idiom, riddle) as well as the elements of wedding and calendar ceremonial poetry. The genres of ethnic epic, historical song, ritual song are archaic and mostly excluded from T.f. of RB due to historical, spiritual changes in people's consciousness, and common tendencies of world folklore development.
T.f. can be characterized as a synthesis of Tatar and Bashkir ethnic traditions, as a result of long geographic and spiritual proximity of the peoples. Motif karymta-barymta, in particular, largely cannot be found in the repertoire of the Tatars from the Volga region, however, it is a separate cycle of the lore and legends of Bashkortostan Tatars. Epic folklore plays an integral role in T.f., it is devoted to the uprising of 1755– 56, Peasant wars of 1773–75, Batyrsha, Salavat Yulayev, Kanzafar Usayev, etc. G.N. Akhmarov, M.A. Vasilyev, R.G. Ignatyev, N.F. Katanov, S.G. Rybakov began collecting T.f. in the late 19th c. – early 20th c. Bashkir and Tatar writers and scientists of the 20th c. contributed to the collection: M. Gafuri, Galimdzh. G. Ibragimov, Naki Isanbet, Gata Iskhaki, S. Kudash, A.M. Tagirov, F.K. Tuykin, G. Tukay, R.F. Fakhretdinov, Nigmat Khakim, N.G. Khanzafarov, etc.
T.f. of Bashkortostan has been studied since the 1960’s. Bashkir state university founded a folklore archive, n. a. Galimdzh. I. Ibragimov in 1963, created by the Tatar philology chair. More than 20 student folklore expeditions to Bashkortostan districts (where Tatars were living) were organized in 1963–91 (headed by R.M. Mukhametzyanov); the results were published in the “Tatar ethnic art” collection and in “Folklore of peoples of Russia“ series. T.f. was collected and systematized by B.G., folklorists B.G. Akhmetshin, S.Z. Mukhamatnurov, dialectologists G.K. Akhatov, D.B. Ramazanova, T.K. Khayrutdinova, etc. Student folklore expeditions were continued in 2006, headed by I.K. Fazlutdinov. BSU, Sterlitamak branch of BSU, M. Akmulla Pedagogical university are collecting T.f. The materials of expeditions are published in “Tulpar” magazine, “Kyzyl tan” newspaper, scientific collections. Mukhametzyanov's monograph called “Calendar poetry of Tatars from banks of the Ik river” (1977) is dedicated to ceremonial Tatar poetry, Fazlutdinov's books: “People's history and lore” (2003), “Lore – echo of history” (2007; all in the Tatar language), “Folklore of Bashkortostan Tatars: lore, legends, bylichkas, oral short stories” are dedicated to genres of oral non-fairytale prose. Peculiarities of RB T.f. are being studied in connection with folklore of the Bashkirs and other Bashkortostan peoples.
I.K. Fazlutdinov
