The Mythologem of the World Tree and Mythologies of Peoples of the Uralic Linguistic Family

Abstract

The mythologem of the world tree is absent from the majority of traditions of peoples of the Uralic linguistic family (examples shown in literature are usually either fiction or the result of latest developments and foreign influences) and cannot be reconstructed for the pre-Uralic mythology. Types of tree cults characteristic of Uralic traditions ought to be distinguished from the mythologem of the world tree; they can be used as a basis for the reconstruction of an ancient (Pre-Uralic-Yukaghir) custom of making personal trees-doubles of people (of the Karelian karsikko type), which could be also related to later notions of the shamanic tree.