MANIFESTATIONS OF VARIANCE IN THE BELARUSIAN CALENDAR AND RITUAL TRADITION (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE SPRING SONG “VOL BUSHUE – VIASNU CHUYE”)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the variation of the Belarusian calendar-ritual songs on the example of the ancient and widespread spring song “Vol bushyе – viasnu chuye”. Dozens of tunes and lyrics of songs recorded in various places of Belarus at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 21st century were analyzed. In modern folklore, variation is understood as a specific feature of folklore which manifests itself in the existence of works of folk art in variants. The method of comparing options has become one of the main ones in the process of revealing the features and patterns of the existence of song folklore in variants. As a result of the research, the facts of the existence of a variant set of Belarusian folk songs “Vol bushyе – viasnu chuye”, differences of local styles and traditions, revealed a number of reasons that influence the occurrence of song variants (place, time, form of being, age and individual abilities of performer and other). The rich material made it possible to draw some conclusions about the structural and semantic laws of the existence of variations of songs, the nature of metrorhythmic, melodic types, modes, plot variants. Variation, as one of the primary features of folk art in the cycle of Belarusian ritual songs and directly in the spring songs has its own characteristics. The peculiarity of rhythmics and melodies give the songs plasticity, drama, perfectly convey the emotional states that artistically combine with the plot-shaped system of spring song-calls.