Cumulation of Calendars as a Component of Yakut Worldview (Based on the Novel “Iyeem Kepsiir” (“My Mother’s Telling”) by S. S. Maisov)

The article considers the calculation of the narration time using the Russian Orthodox calendar as a regulator of the characters’ life cycle. The ideas of the Yakut people about time correlate with the traditional folk calendar and constitute a holistic cultural unit, which is reduced to regulating the course of life, mainly in accordance with the natural and economic cycle. Taking root in the first half of the ninetieth century, the Russian Orthodox calendar naturally fit into the traditional Yakut calendar, according to which the entire economic annual cycle was measured. This article makes a unique attempt to interpret the representation of time as understood by the Yakut people, indicated by the dates of the saints (or tanaralar) in the Orthodox calendar, coinciding not only with seasonal changes in the nature and agricultural work, but also with the events marked as conceptually important in the memories of the mother, on which the main storyline of the novel is built. It was shown that the calendar’s landmarks and the novel’s main reference points make an organizing axis calling for the author’s own chronotope. The temporal correlation with the depicted life situation of the characters is maintained within the framework of the traditional Yakut calendar, in accordance with the Christian calendar, or along the lines of the concurrency of both time locks. Thus, calendar traditions form an architectonic structure of this work. The novel mentions almost all the days of the saints of the Christian calendar. The author designates them as tanaralar (saints) and arranges the entire calendar following the natural cycle and the traditional economic activities of the Yakut people. However, the designation of the saints’ days (tanaralar) does not always mean one particular day, in other words, events may not be described within one specified day, but during a time cycle or a period before or after the onset of the holy day. Relevant examples were selected with the help of a continuous sampling method from three parts of the novel with a total volume of more than 1000 pages. From Yakut into Russian the examples were translated by the author of this article.