Ukrainian Ritual Bread: Ethnocultural Specifics of the Visual Image

Abstract

Ritual bread baking from dough, in particular, named: «kalach», «korovai», «karachun», «paska» (Easter bread), «zhaivoronky» (literally «larks»), «khresty» (literally «crosses»), has been studied. They have specific plastic design and, compared to other types of bread dishes of Ukrainians, the most vivid signs of aesthetic thinking. The visual image of the Ukrainian ritual bread is presented in a subject embodiment in the process of working with raw materials in a three-dimensional form with its inherent size, structure and decor, justified by both the ritual context and the dependence on the environment. The «kalach», «korovai», «karachun», «paska» (Easter bread) have a round shape of different sizes («korovai», «paska» are sometimes quite sizable) with a heterogeneous structure. The «korovai» is usually three-layered: the lower layer is named «pidoshva» (literally «sole»), the middle and the upper ones (dough plastic elements, live or manufactured flowers, leaves, fruits, plant branches), and objects (mostly ribbons). The «karachun» and the «paska» (Easter bread) are two-layered: the base (there is no lower layer) and the upper layer – the «karachun» made of stems with cereal grains (mainly oats), fruits of vegetable crops (garlic, beans, etc.) and of fruits (dried prunes, cherries) and the «paska» made of plastic elements from dough. The shapes and decor of ritual cookies usually convey the simplified contours and features of objects or creatures. The principles of modelling, the decorative elements and compositions of Ukrainian ritual bread are inherited, preserving the foundations of folk ethics and aesthetics and, together with the manifestation of original creative ideas, play an important role in continuing its traditions today.