Genre Specifics and Artistic and Stylistic Features of Ingush Lullabies

Kostoeva Aishat Magometovna Researcher, Ingush Research Institute of Humanities, Magas, Russia 386001, Russia, Republic of Ingushetia, Magas, Malsagova str., 11 a-kostoeva1@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Lullabies occupy a significant place among the song folklore of the Ingush people. Like any other genre of oral folk art, lullabies reflect the dreams and aspirations of the people, their aspirations and hopes, worldview and worldview, as well as the national culture that has been formed for centuries. Lullabies are a lyrical genre of folklore that has absorbed the ethical and aesthetic ideas of the ancestors. Hearing the quiet chant of the mother, the child feels protected. It is lullabies that, from the very first days of life, open an unprecedented world to the baby. They tell about the family way of life, the difficulties and dangers of life, and about the boundless love for them. They are intended for children, but are performed by adults ^{[4; 18; 16, p. 562 – 564; 19; 20; 21]}. Accordingly, they reflect the world of thoughts of adults, those who perform these songs.

            In the Ingush language, lullabies are designated by the term "agha illesh" (lullabies), "agha t1ara illesh" (songs over the cradle). Just like in Russian and other languages of the world, in the Ingush language, the names of songs with which a child is lulled to sleep are derived from the word cradle – aha, song – illi. 

Unfortunately, there are no fundamental works on the study of this topic in Ingush folklore today. There are very few recorded and published Ingush lullabies. In a small number they are given in the books: "Anthology of Ingush folklore. Vol. 1." Comp. Dakhkilgov I. A. Nalchik, 2003; "G1alg1ai bagakhbuvtsam. Ottadar" Malsagov A. U. Magas, 2002; "Ille tamash. Ottadar" Malsagov A. O. Grozny. 1990). A great help was the book by I. A. Matiev "G1alg1ai agha illesh" ("Ingush lullabies), published in 2019, in which the author collected over thirty previously unpublished songs. I want to believe that in the future this genre will undergo in-depth study ^[10].

            Folklorists have no doubt that lullabies are one of the oldest genres. M. N. Melnikov believes that "Direct evidence of the ancient origin of lullabies are anthropomorphic images of Sleep, Drowsiness, Calm, Repose, as well as the proximity of ancient texts to conspiracies" ^{[11, p. 19; 15, p. 34 – 38]}.

Also, A. N. Martynova in her work "The experience of classifying Russian lullabies" divides lullabies into two types and, characterizing each of these groups, draws some conclusions about their evolution: "The most ancient should be recognized works that include wishes for sleep to a child and calls of mythical creatures expressed by constant formulas that have an analogy in conspiracies "from insomnia" of the child. Later in time of occurrence are works containing appeals to a child, which have various, varying forms, as well as appeals to people, Christian characters, animals with a request to put the child to sleep" ^{[9, p. 115]}.

V. A. Vasilenko also writes that some lullabies are very close to conspiracies that arose in the era of pagan spiritualization of surrounding objects and the personification of abstract concepts ^{[2, p. 350]}.

            Elements of antiquity can also be found in Ingush lullabies. In particular, this is evidenced by the indispensable use of the chorus "Oliy Boliy" in all texts. I. A. Dakhkilgov believes that "the oldest appeal to the deities Al and Bel, who were asked to protect the child from evil forces, was reflected here" ^{[6, p. 292]}. I. Dakhkilgov also writes: "In Ingush lullabies, the first verse certainly sounds like this: "Oli-i-i, pain-i-i, dolala-a...". ("Oli-i-i, Pain-I-i, come"). The song ends with this verse: "Oli-i, Pain-I, yes...". It is absolutely possible that in the above first verse the mother invites the patron spirits of "Oli", "Pain", in which it is easy to recognize the already known Alla and Bella, to come and guard the child who is put to bed" ^{[5, p. 480]}. The scientist explains this by the fact that "In ancient times there was a high infant mortality, and therefore many different magical actions, rituals, conspiracies were associated with children, which were designed to protect children from all kinds of misfortunes" ^{[5, p. 480]}.

These deities are also found in Ingush mythology. Alla and Bella appear as good spirits-geniuses in a fairy tale published by Ch. Akhriev in 1875 and recorded by him in the village of Garak (X1arp). 

Harsiev B. M.G. in his work "Archaic myths and images in modern language" writes the following: ""Alla, Bell, the Ingush and Chechens have the most archaic deities; they predict the fate of people, the future. There was an idea that Alla, Bella, was more powerful than the god of thunder and lightning Seli. Their names were sworn in especially important cases. The spell: "Alla, Bella ailcha...." – translated from Ingush "in the name of good or evil", is a vivid evidence of the personification of the images of Allads and Balu as spirits of good and evil in Ingush mythology" ^[17].

Thus, we can assume that Ingush lullabies were formed in ancient times, when the people firmly believed in the power of various deities, patron spirits and turned to them with various requests. It is noteworthy that the lyrics of the songs changed depending on the worldview and perception of the performers. Thus, the content of lullabies depends on the way of life of the people.  

 Conventionally, folklore is divided into two directions – adult and children. First of all, it is necessary to clarify what is meant by the concept of "children's folklore" and what genres belong to it. According to M. N. Melnikov, "children's folklore is a specific field of folk art that unites the world of children and the world of adults, including a whole system of poetic and musical-poetic genres of folklore" ^{[8; 11, p. 4]}.

Works for children created and performed by adults, or works created and performed by children themselves, should be attributed to children's folklore? It is not always possible to distinguish between the genres of adult and children's folklore with absolute validity, since there are a large number of works that exist simultaneously in both adult and children's folklore. These include, for example, lullabies, they are performed by adults, but are intended for children. Some researchers refer them to adult folklore, others to children's folklore.

G. S. Vinogradov does not attribute lullabies to children's folklore: "Because they are also performed by children, the works of this group are not made children's folklore, just as the performance of soldiers' songs by children does not give the right to include a soldier's song in children's folklore, until these songs fall out of adult folklore and become the property of only children" ^{[3, p. 26]}.

Special attention is paid to the content of the lyrics of lullabies, because it is extremely important what is sung in them, since the child was brought up through lullabies. Some folklorists believe that lullabies perform two functions. The first function is to put the child to sleep, to lull him to sleep. The smooth rocking of the cradle and the quiet, monotonous singing of the song tends the child to sleep. The second function is educational. It should be said that all genres of folklore perform an educational function. Lullabies are no exception. As in many lullabies, the motion–sickness effect of k1ik1i is achieved by poetic techniques – alliteration, assonance, synonymy and repetition - of words in one verse, words in adjacent verses, whole verses and interjections.   ^{[17; 13; 14, pp. 317 – 322]}. The most important value of the educational function of lullabies is native speech, which the child hears from birth and absorbs with mother's milk. A child is taught to be right in infancy, all the principles and foundations that he should follow in life are inspired.

I must say that Ingush lullabies do not differ much from the world ones in their artistic design, plots and motives. Most lullabies contain an appeal that, as a rule, does not have an established form. Firstly, the singer of the song appeals to the baby himself with a request to fall asleep soon and not distract her from household chores. At the same time, the child is called by various affectionate names. For example, "k1oli" is a baby, "k1orig" is a chicken, "tsitsig" is a kitty.

  Works containing appeals to the child are full of epithets, comparisons, metaphors, etc.:

La?a sanna, massa volas,                           Cha sanna, ch1oag1a volash,Bozi sanna, myra volash,                           

Lom sanna niz bolash,Tsok sanna, kadai volash.

                              Tsogi sanna maykara volashVo1 va sa khe vezash.

                                     Vo1 va sa khe vezash.

Fast as a falcon, Big as a bear,

Brave as a wolf, Strong as a lion,                    

Nimble as a lynx, Cunning as a fox,

My son has to grow up. My son has to grow up.

In this text, the child is identified with strong, fast, brave animals and birds. The performer thereby emphasizes her desire and aspiration that her child, when he grows up, has all these qualities. Of course, there are exaggerations here. It is in the language, primarily in its lexical and phraseological composition, that such universal, global knowledge is recorded – the result of the work of collective consciousness, collective linguistic personality – ethnos.  ^{[12; 7, pp. 39-43]}.  

The text of Ingush lullabies is also full of appeals to animals, birds, etc. with a request to help put the child to sleep. Eg:

Tsitsig, hyadola,                                 Yeah torkadelah,Bakjilg, hyayola,                             

Nanena g1o delah,Borsig, hiayola, K1oli torkadelah,        

Chaitong, hyayola.

                              Sa ber thovsadelah.

 Kitten, come, you shake the cradle,                              

Foal, come,                       Help Mom,

Little wolf, come, shake the baby,

Little bear, come.                    Put my baby to sleep!

 "In Ingush lullabies, there is almost always an appeal to the kitty (tsitsig). It was believed that a cat lulls a child to sleep. The same function is performed in Russian folklore by the cat Bayun. Lullabies in which the cat is the hero – helper are widely spread in Russian folklore" ^{[6, p. 293]}.

  V. P. Anikin believes that "the ancient basis of these songs arose in connection with the beliefs that the peaceful purring of a cat in the house brings sleep and peace to a child" ^{[1, p.302]}.

            In some cases, the mention of various kinds of animals is intimidating. Eg:

            Aliyliylei, boliy, tsitsi, dizhalakh, thovsalakh, K1origa, kotama, daca mel dar dola hya,

Dizhalakh, thovsalakh, k1origa, kotama

Dai nanei diina metsa borz yoag1a hyona…           

Aliiley, boliy, kitty, lie down, go to sleep,

            Everything is yours, like a chicken, chicken, lamb,

            Lie down, go to sleep, chickens, chickens…

            Having killed his father and mother, a hungry wolf is coming…   

Thus, at first glance it may seem that such an intimidating text is used only for one purpose, so that the child, frightened, falls asleep faster. However, if we look deeper, we will understand that there is another meaning hidden here. A child is prepared from an early age for the dangers of life, thereby warning him against various troubles and misfortunes.

Also, for the purpose of intimidation, a strange mythical creature "Bovi" of unknown origin is mentioned in lullabies. "Bowie – the meaning of this word is not known. In lullabies, as in counting books, a lot of words are used, the meaning of which is either lost, or it did not exist at all" ^{[6, p. 293]}. It should be noted that in lullabies and other peoples there are creatures that prevent the child from sleeping. For example, as Martynova writes, in Russian lullabies it is most often "Buka". "It's hard to say whether Buki is a certain mythological character behind the image. There is evidence that in Ancient Russia a child was frightened by "birth". It has been suggested that the genus is nothing but a brownie. Perhaps Buka is one of the names of a brownie, or maybe this character is the personification of any noise that prevents a child from sleeping" ^{[6, p. 110]}.

From the developed material it can be seen that such epithets as: "dosho kortilg" (golden head); "siirda b1argash" (clear eyes); "k1ada kulgash" (soft hands); "ts1ena ts1iy" (pure blood); "dosho yi1ig" give bright figurative expressiveness and emotional coloring to the lullabies of the Ingush people" (golden girl), etc. These epithets are deeply lyrical and express the state of mind of the mother. The lullabies of the Ingush people are distinguished by melodiousness, lyricism and deep emotionality. Most often they contain the chant "Oliy-Boliy", which gives the texts consonance and proportionality. Ingush lullabies contribute to the development of the younger generation of love and respect for their native speech, traditions and customs, thereby educating them with spiritual and moral qualities.