The interest in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

n legends started at the end of the 19th century. The legends were published with a purpose of attraction of attracting tourism. Field work and publications of Crimean folklore were mostly done by non-professional folklorists. Therefore, it often happens that principles of classification of collected material are not known, and national origins of legends are not differentiated either.

History

Legends specifically of the Crimean Tatars were published in 1937, others are attributed to Greek,

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

, and

Crimean Karaites Crimean Karaites or simply Karaites (Crimean Karaim language, Karaim: Кърымкъарайлар, ''Qrımqaraylar'', singular къарай, ''qaray''; Trakai dialect: ''karajlar'', singular ''karaj''; ; ; ), also known more broadly as Eastern E ...

. Most legends were collected in their original language, and were translated into Russian for publication. The nature of legend texts was influenced by translators/collectors’ professions and their cultural environment. The most scientific approach for collecting legends was shown in the 1920s and 1930s, when scientific expeditions were supported by Communist party, which had just come to power and started to support cultural development of national minorities. However, after Stalin's repressions and deportation of Crimean Tatars, folklore became a subject for editing according to ideological demands of that time. It made the Soviet-era treatment of folklore a specific phenomenon in its own right, which is worthy of separate research. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Crimean legends continued to be published commercially.Barskaya, Tatyana. (1999). Legendi i predaniya Krima. Yalta: Krimpress. Apart from such publications for the popular market, national societies also took to publishing collections of legends.

History

See also

References

Further reading