Gilyak

I've been getting the impression for a while that Indo-Aegean (IAeg) and Altaic-Gilyak (AG) must have remained particularly close after diffusion of the Proto-Steppe community because I can think of at least two sure features that they share with each other that couldn't have been inherited from the parent language.

Prehistoric isoglosses in Proto-Steppe 2009

I've been getting the impression for a while that Indo-Aegean (IAeg) and Altaic-Gilyak (AG) must have remained particularly close after diffusion of the Proto-Steppe community because I can think of at least two sure features that they share with each other that couldn't have been inherited from the parent language.

Archive 2009-10-01 2009

THE FORM of communion in which the sacred animal is taken from house to house, that all may enjoy a share of its divine influence, has been exemplified by the Gilyak custom of promenading the bear through the village before it is slain.

The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion 1922

Nevertheless his flesh has an irresistible attraction for the Gilyak palate, especially when the animal has been kept in captivity for some time and fattened on fish, which gives the flesh, in the opinion of the Gilyaks, a peculiarly delicious flavour.

Chapter 52. Killing the Divine Animal. § 5. Killing the Sacred Bear 1922

Nevertheless his flesh has an irresistible attraction for the Gilyak palate, especially when the animal has been kept in captivity for some time and fattened on fish, which gives the flesh, in the opinion of the Gilyaks, a peculiarly delicious flavour.

The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion 1922

If we would understand the meaning of the Gilyak ritual, says Mr. Sternberg, “we must above all remember that the bear-festivals are not, as is usually but falsely assumed, celebrated only at the killing of a house-bear but are held on every occasion when a Gilyak succeeds in slaughtering a bear in the chase.

Chapter 52. Killing the Divine Animal. § 5. Killing the Sacred Bear 1922

THE FORM of communion in which the sacred animal is taken from house to house, that all may enjoy a share of its divine influence, has been exemplified by the Gilyak custom of promenading the bear through the village before it is slain.

Chapter 54. Types of Animal Sacrament. § 2. Processions with Sacred Animals 1922

Thus, for example, it is thought that if a Gilyak falls in combat with a bear, his soul transmigrates into the body of the beast.

Chapter 52. Killing the Divine Animal. § 5. Killing the Sacred Bear 1922

The parallelism between this custom of “hunting the wren” and some of those which we have considered, especially the Gilyak procession with the bear, and the Indian one with the snake, seems too close to allow us to doubt that they all belong to the same circle of ideas.

Chapter 54. Types of Animal Sacrament. § 2. Processions with Sacred Animals 1922

One of these bear-festivals was witnessed by the Russian traveller L. von Schrenck and his companions at the Gilyak village of Tebach in January 1856.

Chapter 52. Killing the Divine Animal. § 5. Killing the Sacred Bear 1922