Ksenia Kardonova, Incantations

Abstract

When children lose their baby teeth, they are not thrown anywhere. According to custom, such a tooth should be wrapped in bread and given to a dog with the following words ‘Dog, take my bad tooth and give me a good one’. After doing this a new, strong tooth should grow. Also, nails should be buried in the ground with words ‘I won’t let you be eaten by cows’. There are some growths on cow’s guts, and Kalmyks used to think that these were human nails eaten by cows. When it rained, the Kalmyks say, ‘Rain, rain go away, ram meat come’. Something similar to this was said.