БОРЩ ЯК ФОЛЬКЛОРНИЙ НАРАТИВ, АБО ЧОМУ БОРЩ - УКРАЇНСЬКИЙ

Abstract

Background. Investigated here are historical data on the most earliest mentions of the recipe and technology of preparing borshch as a culinary dish and as a cultural narrative which retransmits information about mythological representations, ritual practices, festive customs and everyday standards of the ethno-subject. The object of the article is different folklore genres and some units of russian-language content, data from folklore expeditions, as well as information, learned by the authors of the article through direct transmission. Methods. The use of system-categorical and structural-semiotic approaches made it possible to analyze the syncretic folklore text "borshch" as a certain model of ethnic stereotypes and social standards. The comparative method was applied when comparing Ukrainian and russian folklore genres. Results. Research attention is focused on finding out the cognitive characteristics of the folklore narrative "borshch" through the identification of its functional and semantic parameters. Conclusions. Contextual data, among which gender stratification, time continuum, method of preparation and consumption, give a possibility to show the ritual semantics or the physiological pragmatics of the traditional Ukrainian dish. The information obtained from all ethnographic regions of Ukraine proves the nationwide nature of the cultural phenomenon "borshch" in its variety, formed historically. "Lexical" variability is expressed in the replacement of ingredients with their counterparts ("synonyms"), which does not affect the constancy of the general content of the narrative. Content variability, which indicates certain worldview changes, is associated with the narration of the texts of everyday life or different celebrations. As the folk ritual cycle has been partially desacralized, narrators do not always connect the tradition of cooking and eating borshch with the ancient custom of sacrifice. The publication is somewhat polemical in nature, as it is aimed at refuting the unjustified encroachments of the aggressor country on the autochthonous cultural text of the Ukrainians, as confirmed by UNESCO.