Uno Harva e la religione dei popoli altaici

Abstract

The key work of the Finnish anthropologist Uno Harva (1882-1949) related to the religious conceptions of the Altaians has been recently published in Italian. Altain suvun uskonto (“The Altaians’ religion) was first published in Finnish in 1933, sixteen years after the conclusion of the field work Harva carried out in the Altai mountains, as a result of a thorough work of editing and rearrangement of the several written and oral sources he had restored to. This work marked a break with regards to the previous tradition, since it offered a new and wider range of comparative material, shown with a new approach and a renewed structure, which had a huge impact on the principles of research in the fields of anthropology and history of religions. The various chapters illustrate the world view, the religious, funeral, hunting and sacrificial rites, ending with a rich section dedicated to the shamanism among the Altai peoples. Passing through the legends about the creation of the world and the human kind to the end of the world, from the myths about celestial bodies to natural phenomena, from guardian-spirits to the concept of animism, Harva lays the basis for approaching the final chapter about shamanism, having available all the key concepts for a better understanding of this world view.