Kulemzin, Vladislav M. - Lukina, Nadezda : Khanty Mythology

The Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies offers a comparative base for the study of the roots and present forms of Finno-Ugrian and Samoyedic mythologies and ethnic religions. The peoples speaking the Uralic languages are indigenous peoples of Northern Eurasia in the territory extending from Fennoscandia to the Taimyr Peninsula. Along with their complicated histories and cultural differences, the Uralic groups have maintained and created original religious and mythological traditions, where traces of archaic religious systems, e.g. shamanism, animal ceremonialism and astral mythology, merged with ancient foreign influences and more recent religions. Mythology is understood in a broad sense, including not only myths proper but also information about religious beliefs, connected rituals, the sphere of magic and its specialists.