Fertility in the cycles of the national wedding and maternity rites: comparison of the structures and functions

Abstract

The aim of the article is to compare structures of the cycles of the national wedding and maternity rites, to establish the prospects for such a procedure for scientific research of a family ritualism.Research methodology. The structural and functional method of research and partly structural and semiotic and comparative, in particular, comparative and historical ones, were used to compare the created structures of these ritual cycles. All of these approaches are advanced enough to study family ritualism.Results. Comparing the structures of wedding and maternity rites, and involving in the consideration the funeral structure, it is possible to establish that social statuses of the main ceremonial characters are divided not only into the profane and the sacred. Their range is much broader and has four groups: initial and final profane statuses, sacral statuses, and marginal statuses. Based on the stage at which one or the other occurs, the division of the ritual into four periods — pre-ceremonial, initial, fundamental and final ritual actions — depends. It has been established that fertility in wedding and maternity rites is manifested through the use of bread and other polyphony symbols, as well as washing and ablution processes. As a result of the research, the grounds for performing the rites were found — stimulation of fertilization and imitation of the creation of the world. If in wedding ceremonies the action is directed to fertilization, its stimulation and provocation by means of sexual intercourse, then the maternity rites are imitation and repetition of the divine cause of creation of the world.Novelty. The attempt is made to construct and compare the structures and functions of the cycles of the Ukrainian traditional wedding and maternity rites for the first time.The practical significance. Further cultural studies of the structures will enable a much broader consideration of the connections between the particular family rites, comparing them with each other and the ritual activities of the calendar cycle; to explore in more detail the change of status of the main characters, to determine the time and space frames, the level of sacralization, to reveal the display of fertility in traditional family and calendar ceremonies.