ОБРАЗ ТИГРА В РОССИЙСКОМ ДАЛЬНЕВОСТОЧНОМ ПРЕДАНИИ

Abstract

In the culture of the indigenous inhabitants of the Russian Far East, the origin of the image of 'Tiger' is closely related to their environmental situations and primitive beliefs. In the process of their adaptation to life, there occurred the formation of a variety of images about 'the tiger', which can be classified into the following three types – a tiger as a ferocious, sacred creature, a comic animal, and an ancestor. His evil and sacred image arose from the physical abilities of the predator, and the remaining images - as a reaction to the first. The image of a funny animal is created by the difference between a tiger and a man, and the image of an ancestor results from combining a predator with humans. Similarly, the image of the tiger is common in the spiritual culture of minority peoples, especially in legends.