Title of the article:

“GOD’S ROADS” OF THE RUSSIAN NORTH: SACRED HYDROGRAPHY AND HYDROSOPHY OF THE NORTHERN PYATIRECHYE

Author(s):

Nikolay M. Terebikhin

Information about the author/authors

Nikolay M. Terebikhin — DSс in Philosophy, N. Laverov Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 20 Nikolsky Ave., 163020 Arkhangelsk, Russia.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2981-285X
E-mail: terebihinn@mail.ru

Section

Theory and history of culture

Year

2023

Volume

Vol. 69

Pages

pp. 9–23

Received

July 1, 2022

Approved after reviewing

October 31, 2022

Date of publication

September 25, 2023

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2023-69-9-23

Index UDK

008+2+94(470.1/.2)(045)

Index BBK

71.0+86.372+63.3(2)-7(21)

Acknowledgements

The research was supported by Russian Science Foundation and Government of Arkhangelsk Region (project no. 22-28-20502). Available at: https://rscf.ru/project/22-28-20502.

Abstract

The paper displays results of the initial stage of research on the creation of a thesaurus of key geocultural concepts, images and symbols of the Russian North and the Russian Arctic as a cultural code and symbolic resource of spatial development of the Northern macroregion. The research methodology is based on semiotic analysis and hermeneutics of texts of the traditional culture of the region’ peoples, as well as works included in the Northern supertext of Russian literature. The “Island-archipelago” prasymbol and associated image-symbolical ensemble of the sacred hydrosphere (“world river”) are identified as a basic geocultural constant reflecting the structure of physical and metaphysical space (cosmos) of the North and the Arctic. The river network of the North, reproducing the tree-like topology of the “world tree”, acted as a system of spatial, social, and sacred orientations underlying the identity of ethnic and local communities of the region. Sacred hydrography determined the ways and directions of the Slavic-Russian (Novgorod) colonization of the Chud’ north (“Finnish Rus”), colonization models, types and forms of colonists' settlements. In addition to the “island” and “river” symbols, the study provides a semantic analysis of related concepts and images, relevant for building a thesaurus of geocultural symbols of the Russian North and the Russian Arctic (“holiness”, “zemstvo-world”, “Northeast”, “network”, “House of St. Sophia”).

Keywords

Island-archipelago, Sacred Hydrography, Prasymbol, Spatial Development, Colonization, Russian North, Russian Arctic, Thesaurus Approach.

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