OLONKHO
the Yakut Heroic Epos

(Detailed description as it was written in candidate application for the 3rd proclamation of masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of the humanity)

OLONKHO AS MEANS OF EXPRESSION OF CULTURAL TRADITION

Yakut heroic epic has entered spiritual and cultural life of Yakut people. Prom inent olonkho performers of soviet times, fully realizing the ideas of the time, started to popularize olokho through amateur performance, where amateur people's theatres still play a major role. Olonkho entered other areas of pro fessional arts as well, particularly, drawing, musical and theatrical arts. olonkho provided new ideas, plots and characters. Actually, some forms of art were based purely on olonkho. Thus, olonkho, continuing to be in traditional though limited form in the people's environment, was spread wide in the cultural tra dition though in a transformed mode. For example, the developemnt of non-traditional forms of olonkho lead to creation of "olonkho theatre". Yakut national literature was based upon yakut folklore and it is still feeding on plots and characters of the epic, as well as the poetic language and stylistic devices of folklore.

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