Paper short abstract:

The Legend about Three Suns of the Nanai people related to the Amur people cultural heritage. During the Soviet period it has become an element of local educational activities. The literary version of legend serves as an ideological basis of the emerging new-shamanism on the Anur River territory.

Paper long abstract:

The Nanay people is the indigenous inhabited the Lower Amur River district of Eastern Russia. Their mythology includes both autochthonous (formed as a result of making the local natural environment habitable for people) and borrowed from Eastern Siberia and China layers. This syncretism has ancient roots and is confirmed by archaeological remains from about 5-4 thousand BC. The same ancient basis is found in the Legend about Three Suns that tells about the times of sizzling heat on the Earth. According to this story, the spirit named Hado killed two Suns thus enlivening the Earth and giving rise to the Nanai clans. This legend has a spatial reference represented on the Earthly plane. During the Soviet period based on atheistic ideology, the legend existed in the context of archaeological heritage as the Amur Neolithic monuments. It has found a "written substrate", has become an element of educational activities, local history lessons since that time. In the scientific literature, the Russian version served as an interpretation of the archaeological monument. The cultural rebirth on the new “platform” was started in the second half of the 1980s. The local intelligentsia played the role of translator and keeper the traditions, what turn in writing form. The literary version of legend was added by some details related to the Cosmic order and ancient times. Currently, it serves as an ideological basis of the emerging new-shamanism.