anging their functional and semantic appearance. This paper examines the rules of a «play»
in modern ritual events of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples. The analysis of modern field materials
in comparison with archival records for revealing a role of participants of a game in a ritual event
is considered as actual and new.
In ceremonial events, a ritual or sacred type of communication is realised. The depth of the
sacral meaning of a sign in ritual events and accompanying texts is determined by the cultural
tradition, by the nature of folklore thinking – thinking in complexes. The similarity between
games and rituals was noted by many researchers. The plot of events in any rite unfolds according
to a certain scenario, where game moments with scenic attributes of clothing and behaviour are
agreed in advance. The whole action looks like a dramatic performance with the rules where
mythological characters are of particular importance. The rite is always concerned with the establishment of links between the worlds by actualising
the rules of behaviour causing an increase in semiotics. It is known that the idea of the dialogical
nature of the relationship between a person and another world that is common for the folklore
worldview is at the heart of the ceremonial events. The constant presence of «otherworldly» observers
determines the symbolic «secret language» of shamanic texts and the game behaviour
of the characters participating in the sacred event. Although there is no strict regulation of behaviour
in the real space of the ritual, it is necessary to know «your place» in this situation and understand
the accepted «game» codes when performing the ritual actions connected with sacral space.
As a result of the study, the denotative meaning of the word is found to include the connotative
semantics of the ritual complex. The ritual action episodes that were examined demonstrate
that all events represent a conditional game of a magical character. These games constitute the
essence of religious events that have a pragmatic function.
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