Zhilishche, ochag, sem"ya – malyy zhenskiy kosmos, s kotorym svyazany obryady v traditsionnoy kul"ture buryat kontsa XIX – nachala KhKh v., oberegayushchie zhenskoe prostranstvo. V orbitu etogo prostranstva byla vklyuchena vsya sistema zhizneobespecheniya obshchestva, v kotorom pozhilye, blagopoluchno rozhavshie zhenshchiny zanimali vedushchee polozhenie, chto svidetel"stvuet o bytovanii sledov materinskogo kul"ta. Vystupaya v kachestve sub"ekta obryada, oni vypolnyali zhrecheskie funktsii posvyatitel"nits: rukovodili okkazional"nymi obryadami, a takzhe zhiznennogo i kalendarnogo tsiklov; gotovili ritual"nuyu pishchu; umilostivlyali bozhestva ognya i prirody; kormili etoy pishchey uchastnikov obryadovogo deystva; provodili magicheskie ritualy initsiatsiy s neofitami. Slozhivshiysya obraz materi – mediatora mezhdu mirom lyudey i mirom bogov – obuslovlen funktsiyami, proetsiruyushchimi blagopoluchie sem"i i roda. Rabota prednaznachena dlya vsekh, kto interesuetsya traditsionnoy, regional"noy, etnicheskoy i gendernoy istoriey i kul"turoy.