Mythological Motives of the Ancestor Worship in the Middle Polissya Ritual Text of the Spring-Summer Calendarian Cycle

Abstract

Calendarian rites are one of the main components of the spiritual culture of the nation. An important value for reconstruction of the ancient condition of Slavic traditional folk spiritual culture is the study of its polissya variant, in particular the Middle Polissya calendarian ritual of the spring-summer cycle. Development of the phenomena of traditional spiritual culture is uneven, most of the elements do not disappear, but change in the process of stratification, interchange, transition to other spheres of existence, therefore, we consider ritual text in the entity of its components, and we also take into consideration connection of rituals of the spring-summer cycle with other ceremonial spheres, in particular with funeral sphere. The main place in the spring-summer cycle takes commemoration of those who perished after Easter. Also, the cult of the dead in close connection with the cult of nature is clearly traced in the ritual of the Green holidays. The mythological motives of this cult are presented in non-verbal units of the main, religious, attributive, locative, and temporal plans and in verbal units of the Middle Polissya ritual text of the spring-summer calendarian cycle. In the ritual text, the following opposition is being implemented: alive: dead, this world: that world, its: alien, good: evil, meeting: wars, etc., they are part of the ancient folk notions about the picture of the world. Consequently, the study of this calendar cycle requires further identification of such archaic features that are the rudiments of the ancient Slavic traditional folk spiritual culture.