Ceremonial Actions Research Articles

Lullabies and Algys in the Semiosphere of the Sakha Culture: Linguistic Aspect

The article analyzes the language and cultural code of lullaby songs and maternity incantations (algyss) which belong to the oldest layer of the Yakut folklore. The addressees are the patron goddesses of clans Aiysyt and the guardian goddesses Ieyekhsit. Understanding of the cultural text language leads to the finding of prototypical conceptual meanings in the consciousness of the ancient Sakha. The novelty of the research lies in the identification of the sign nature of lullabies and incantations, which until now have not been the subject of interest for the Yakut linguists. The aim of the paper is to analyze the semiotic signs and symbols of lullaby songs and maternity spells in semiosphere of the Sakha culture. The article is based on archival materials and published folklore texts. Archaic texts are endowed with magical functions: procreative and apotropaic. In the ritual songs, especially in the rites of transition, both the action code and the sound code (moaning, sound repetitions, the manner of singing: diyeretiya or daegeretiyaҥ) are combined and coexist. Sound behavior in the house of a woman in labor during and after the delivery is strictly regulated. Special sacredness is expressed by allegorical messages about the approach of childbirth, which are expressed by the time code. A syntagmatic series of auspicious signs is presented: the numerical characteristic is joined by color and spatial ones, which model the theme of creation of the Universe and Man. The theme of creation is presented through the technological code of making the cradle. The ambivalence of archaic representation generated by the anthropic functions time/birth, our own/foreign, up/down, and death/life is observed. The symbol of the child is traditionally an egg and a bird, as for gender terms, the symbol of a boy is a knife, the symbol of a girl is a scissor. Wishes for the child’s good fortune are displayed by the concept of cold, which preserves the fact of the negative attitude of the Sakha people from the south to the northern Arctic climate. The sound song code is expressed by a set of cultural codes: the action code, which is defined as a set of ritual and ceremonial actions to achieve the hearing of the patron goddess of childbirth; the time code, corresponding to the three-dimensional universe; the spatial code, represented by the eight-member horizontal and nine-tier vertical model. Sign systems of folk culture functioning in lullabies and incantations are inseparable from their pragmatics. They are “folded messages” which eventually represent archetypal beliefs of ancient Sakha, which are deciphered as a result of semiotic and linguistic research.

Traditional Pre-Christmas Holidays of Western Podillya

"The article analyzes folk winter holidays celebrated in December before Christmas as the greatest holiday of all Christians. There is a combination of folk (pre-Christian) traditions with Christian traditions, which co-exist to this day. The holidays analyzed in the research are dedicated to the most common names of saints in Western Podillya (as well as in Ukraine as a whole), which are most often given to the local residents. Dmytro’s/St. Demetrios Day celebration, in addition to its Christian custom, characterized by church services in memory of martyrs and honoring birthday people, is also known by the traditions related to celebrating the land in winter period, protecting cattle, as well as the cult of deceased ancestors. Celebrations of Dmytro’s/St. Demetrios holiday are proceeded by the celebration of Michael’s Day, which symbolizes the arrival of winter. In Western Podillya St. Michael is known as a protector against evil forces. He is also perceived by the locals as the patron saint of wild forest animals and hunters. Until the middle of the 20th century St. Catherine’s Day celebration in Western Podillya followed the rituals reflecting pre-Christian beliefs. Among them are rites of “destiny calling”, fortune telling and divination (considering the destiny of a future marriage couple), as well as honoring the cult of ancestors. During Varvara/St. Barbara celebration the most evident are magical actions associated with fire and water as the main elements in the world creation and symbols of the Nativity of Jesus Christ in the Christian tradition. Such lunar symbols as dumplings and pies are important for the understanding of celebration rituals. Most ritual actions convey love courtships related to the choice of a future marriage partner. St. Anna’s holiday completes the cycle of holidays related to Christmas celebrations. It marks the beginning of Christmas preparations: women clean houses, men arrange farm buildings and property, provide food for festive meals, girls organize groups for singing carols and other traditional customs of Christmas holidays celebration. Keywords: Western Podillya, Christian religion, ceremonial action, divination, folk holiday. "

Structural and functional research of Ukrainian wedding rituals

The aim of the article is to prove the possibility of applying the method of structural and functional analysis to scientific research of the ceremonial cycle of Ukrainian weddings. Thanks to the method, we obtained a structure in which the large cycle is divided into three small cycles of pre-wedding, wedding and post-wedding ceremonies, small cycles – into separate rites, and the rites are decomposed into episodes. Criteria for division into components are new-level and generalizing repetition of the event, social metamorphosis of the characters of sacred action, change of the sacred chronotope, the principle of constant renewal, change of the nature of the action.In addition, the structure is divided into four stages, which change along with the change in social status of the main characters: a boy and a girl into a bride and a groom, the newly-weds, a man and a woman. The meaning of wedding ceremonies is that a boy and a girl become a man and a woman; but without ceremonial actions, without the sacralization of reality, without the intervention of the otherworldly, without the opposition of antinomian couples, such a transition is impossible. Therefore, there is a need, according to ritual conditions, in the intermediate sacred statuses: the bride and groom, the newly-weds.The created structure of the ceremonial wedding cycle allows to outline the chronological and topographical boundaries of the rites, identify the goals of ritual actions and characters of each episode, characterize the characters and archetypes of the personages, divide the participants and topographic objects into antinomies, identify personages-mediators, establish entries to the rites and exits from them, to find out the limits of sacralization of fertility and its influence on the ritual actions of the wedding complex rites.It has been established that due to antinomic pairs detected by the structure, a conflict arises, which is the driving force of any wedding cycle ceremony. In the culminating rite of the barn is the last transition of the main characters to the final social status. All other characters return to the original profane statuses, because the main task of the ritual cycle, with the maximum sacralization of reality by the influence of the energy of the afterlife, is achieved.In the process of studying, it was established that in ceremonial wedding events there is not only sacralization, but also sacralization of fertility. Fertility in rituals is realized in a mass of images and symbols, both real and folk, in particular in the traditional songs of the rites of komora and perezva.Thus, it should be considered that the use of the method of structural and functional analysis is actually acceptable for research of the national wedding ceremonies.

Остров пародии в океане заговорного жанра

This article systematises and analyses parodies of East Slavic incantations and charms. Although these texts sporadically came to the attention of folklore researchers in pre-revolutionary Russia (N.I. Nadezhdin, P.S. Efimenko) and the Soviet Union (G.S. Vinogradov, J.I. Smirnov), they have rarely been viewed as parodies of real-life verbal magic. This was due partly to lack of study into incantations and charms, and partly to the ideology of official Soviet folkloristics, which pushed to ignore research into East Slavic magic practices and declared them gone irrevocably into the past. The article gives an overview of the characteristics of incantation parodies common in oral folklore. This is supplemented by a description and study of two works of fiction by A.P. Chekhov (‘Home Remedies’) and M.M. Zoshchenko (‘The Medic’), which make playful deformations of oral and written incantations against illnesses combined with various ceremonial actions. The article also analyses parodic incantations which emerged from the “energetic” rituals developed and promoted by V. Dolokhov and V. Gurangov as part of a popular esoteric “psychotraining” programme. Finally, the article elucidates the mechanisms determining the origins of parodic incantations and charms that can be found in Internet folklore.

Art and Culture in the Diplomatic Ceremonial as the Basis of International Relations

Currently, there is an increased interest in ceremonial culture. A ceremonial is a kind of cultural message from one social group of people to another. The basic idea of behaviour, the inner meaning of secular ceremonial is laid down in church rituals, and external forms of behaviour can be borrowed from the traditions of everyday secular life. Diplomacy as one of the spheres of applied politics is a very complex and responsible type of human activity, which has always had a pronounced ritual character. The conclusion of contracts and alliances took place according to a certain scenario plan, according to which the ceremonial action developed. During the preparation and holding of the ceremony, the exchange of diplomatic letters and embassies continued, solemn meetings were arranged for the honored guests, feasts, theatrical performances, games, and festivities were given in their honor. the purpose of the article is to conduct a comprehensive study of the communicative functions of diplomatic ceremonial in international communication based on the analysis and generalisation of new facts with the involvement of archival materials and other sources introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. In this study, art is considered for the first time from the point of view of the communicative factor of a diplomatic ceremony. A ceremonial is an event in the life of society that has a symbolic meaning. The norms of ceremonial reflect not only ideology but also the social psychology of society, without an adequate interpretation of which it is impossible to correctly understand the behavior of statesmen in specific situations related to their official status.

Genre context of Ihor Shamo’s choral creativity

The purpose of this paper. The purpose of the study involves a thorough study on the genre system of choral heritage I. Shamo, as understanding the genre essence of choral work is an essential component of performing interpretation.
 The methodology. Methodological principles are the principle of historicism, historical-contextual method, genre-style analysis and acmeological method in musicology, used to understand the top achievements of I. Shamo in the context of the evolution of artistic thinking of the artist.
 The results. The genre system of I. Shamo’s choral heritage consists of the genres of choral song, suite, choral cycle, cantata, cantata-poem, cantata-oratorio, choral opera a cappella, oratorio (concert-performance). The directions of the composer’s creative search in the genre of choral song are connected with the usage of different choral compositions, appeal to the genres of lyrical song, stylization of ritual songs, romanticization of patriotic song. It is determined that the semantics of the first cycle of choirs a cappella by I. Shamo in the poem by I. Franko reveals the theme of the cycle of the seasons, drawing a parallel with the stages of human life. For the choral cycle “Flying Cranes”, the name of which is a symbol of unattainable happiness and, at the same time hope, the composer improves the techniques of sound recording, creates expansive melodic lines based on a synthesis of folk and romantic intonations. The third cycle of I. Shamo “10 choirs on the poems of Ukrainian poets” demonstrates the latest achievements of the artist in choral writing, timbre drama, the implementation of the principles of working with folk poetic sources, characteristic of the “second wave of folklore”. It is substantiated that the unity of the “Carpathian Suite” of the composer is promoted by: tonal plan, contrasting tempo drama and artistic sound images, intonational unity based on the theme of Ukrainian folk models. Based on the author’s genre definitions of the “Yatran Games”, it is determined that in I. Shamo’s choral opera a cappella there is a synthesis of genres: suite, choral scenes originated from folk life and ceremonial action under the auspices of the opera genre. It was found that among the genres of orchestral and choral compositions of the artist — cantata, cantata-poem, cantata-oratorio, which is dominated by civic themes. Innovative is the work of I. Shamo “Skomoroshyny”, which synthesizes the genres of oratorio and concert, with theatricalization of these genres. The choral opuses showed such features of the artist’s style as the synthesis of genres, the tendency to cyclicality, reliance on national roots, the creation of author’s melodies, where deep folklore manifestations, sprechstimme, sonorism, aleatorics.
 The scientific creativity lies in the analysis of the components of the genre system of I. Shamo’s choral heritage, in the awareness of the genre phenomenon of each choral work and in the identification of the evolution of the artist’s style.
 The practical significance of the obtained results is due to the need to determine the genre of choral work to create a performing interpretation.

PETROGLYPHS OF SIKACHI-ALYAN – MALYSHEVO (LOWER AMUR REGION). THE EXPERIENCE OF INTERPRETATION OF THE SYMBOLIC CONTENT OF THE MYTHOLOGICAL PLOT

The relevance of this study is beyond doubt, since the author in this article offers a description and interpretation of the semantic content of the symbolism of the plot with two masks on stone No. 31 of the petroglyph site near the villages of Sikachi-Alyan and Malyshevo, located 70 km from the mountains. Khabarovsk. The images were described by Academician A.P. Okladnikov, V.E. Medvedev proposed a semantic interpretation of one of the masks on this stone. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that the author uses his own method of iconographic description of the drawings of masks, analyzes the symbolic content of the composition, attracts ethnographic information about rituals with similar external attributes. A wide range of general scientific and special research methods was used to write the work. The sources were scientific articles and books on the research topic, including the author's articles written earlier on these issues. The result of the study is the interpretation of the drawings on the stone as a holistic and interconnected composition of two masks and a vertical strip as characters of myths and an attribute of the ritual and ceremonial actions of settled fishermen of the Amur.

Родючість в українських обрядах родинного циклу

The aim of the article is to study the role of fertility in rites, which is carried out after the construction of structures of wedding, funeral and maternity cycles, as well as after their comparative analysis. The use of the method of structural and functional analysis opens wide prospects for scientific studies of national rituals.                 The scientific novelty of the research results is the combination of family rites, as the most stable component of the Ukrainian tradition, with the expediency of introducing an ethnological approach and coordination with the structural and functional method. The problem is to verify the conformity of the structures of the cycles of wedding, funeral and maternity rites constructed by the researcher to the well-known and popular concept of the presence in ritual actions of processes of making, using and destroying ceremonial attributes.                 It was established in the result of study that the ritual attributes in the wedding cycle can be considered virginity and social status of the bride, in the funeral – the dead body and the coffin with the dead, and in the maternity – baby, festive table, whip-round. Thanks to the verification of rites, it was possible to establish the true nature of the action of some episodes in each of the three cycles, due to which the structures underwent a certain transformation. Because for each of the three actions – making, using and destroying – there must be a separate episode in the structure of a rite.                 The researcher comes to conclusion that with the use of ritual attributes and the growth of the sacralization of the surrounding reality, the ritual action is saturated with elements of fertility and there is a close connection between fertility and sacralization. The driving force of ritual action is the conflict between death and fertility, because only fertility can resist death. In this case, both forces – death and fertility in primitive mythological notions are the energy of the afterlife. Energy that is able to penetrate reality only during ceremonial actions, opening access to the afterlife and sanctifying, sacralizing the surrounding reality.

Смертная казнь и ее применение в эпоху Хэйан (794–1185)

The article analyzes the significance of the death penalty in the criminal law of early medieval Japan based on historical and legal sources, its evolution and characteristics. It is widely believed among researchers that the death penalty was abolished completely in the Heian period. The death penalty was not used for 346 years following the execution of Fujiwara no Nakanari in 810, until it was revived during the Hogen rebellion (Hogen no ran, 1156). Further the author analyzes the position which developed in the Heian Japan after introduction of the moratorium on capital punishment, focusing on examples of the use of the death penalty in Japanese criminal law in the 9th – first half of the 12th cen­turies. Originally it was only an execution procedure for punishing intruders, and an integral part of the judicial system during the Asuka and Nara periods, but in the Heian era, the death penalty turned into a large-scale ceremonial action, reg­ularly held in the market square of the capital's city of peace and tranquility. It was a spectacle both for noble persons and for commoners, which became a credential sign of the triumph of the law over iniquity, a symbol of dishonor for dangerous criminals.

Contemporary Religious Practices of the Orthodox Chuvash in the Samara Trans-Volga region

The paper focuses on contemporary religious practices of the Orthodox Chuvash living in the Trans-Volga areas of the Samara Region. The author describes features of the ritual calendar, funeral and memorial customs and rituals, forms of social activity of the Chuvash within the framework of religious life; reveals the ratio of Orthodox and the so-called pagan elements in religious practices; traces the process of formation of Orthodox-pagan syncretism as the basis of contemporary religiosity of the Samara Chuvash. The results of the study showed their noticeable shift towards Orthodox religiosity in the last two decades. Orthodoxy acts as the basis of the confessional identity of the Samara Chuvash and today it determines activity in the formation of the sacred landscape of Chuvash villages. Orthodoxy is at the heart of festive and ceremonial culture, religious actions and experience. However, in contemporary religious practices, especially in funeral, memorial and calendar rituality, rituals and behavioral models that go back to the Chuvash religion are manifested. At the same time, there is a high degree of syncretization of Orthodox and Chuvash folk traditions, due to the long history of their coexistence in the culture of the rural community. Local churches and involvement of villagers in the confessional environment both at the local, regional and national levels play a significant role in the formation and development of religious practices.

Introduction: premodern queenship and diplomacy

ABSTRACT Queens, be they consorts, dowagers or regents, often played pivotal roles in the lives of medieval and early modern kingdoms. As women who often married across geographical, political and, sometimes, religious borders, they were ideally placed to serve as diplomats and ambassadors, whether directly as agents or indirectly as transmitters of cultural practices, values and ideas. This introduction celebrates the position which queens occupied at the heart of international and transnational affairs in the premodern era. It argues that queens were figures who enjoyed meaningful public authority. Their ceremonial actions were imbued with significance, and their deliberate and considered interventions in court politics, and in the wider affairs of their marital and natal families’ kingdoms placed them on the international stage and at the heart of European monarchy. This introduction also offers an overview of the articles within this special issue and their contribution to recent historiographical debates on queenship and the nature of pre-modern diplomacy.

INAUGURATION CEREMONY IN UKRAINE AS A FACTOR OF CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

State civil and military ceremonies, different in their content and form (coronation of monarchs, inauguration, military reviews and parades, etc.), are important in the exercising by the state of its political, ideological and cultural functions. Cultural diplomacy is a component of public diplomacy, which, in turn, is one of the tools for creating the image of the state, its attractiveness for the countries of the world community. As one of the communication technologies in the process of legitimizing government institutions, the inauguration ceremony is an important mechanism of cultural diplomacy. Despite the fact that in the states of the post-Soviet space, after the October 1917 coup, the natural process of the development of state ceremonial culture was disrupted, the inauguration ceremony in Ukraine is the program of the current government, politics and the prestige of the state. The very specificity of the inauguration as a social phenomenon makes the ceremonial action a kind of illustration of the customs and tastes of the ruling elite, which also establishes a balance between the participants in the ceremony and society. The history of ceremonial culture shows that in most cases the attitude to the ceremony of coming to power is the attitude to the power itself.

РИТУАЛ «ТЯКУДА-НО МАЦУРИГОТО» В ЯПОНСКОЙ СУДЕБНОЙ СИСТЕМЕ ЭПОХИ ХЭЙАН

The article explores the chakuda no matsurigoto (literally “putting on shackles”) ritual in Heian Japan (794–1185), its evolution and specificity. Originally the ritual consisted only of putting shackles on a prisoner after the announcement of the verdict, and presented an integral part of the judicial system during the Asuka and Nara periods, but in the Heian era, the chakuda no matsurigoto ritual turned into a large-scale ceremonial action regularly performed in the 5th and 12th lunar months. It was a spectacle both for noble persons and for commoners, becoming a credential sign (proof) of the triumph of the law over iniquity; a symbol of dishonour for criminals (they were publicly put in shackles during the ritual on the market square of the capital) and a testimony of fair justice for those whose term of imprisonment came to an end (they were removed from the shackles right during the chakuda no matsurigoto and released). The chakuda no matsurigoto ritual in the Heian Japan underwent constructive changes at the end of the 10th century, turned into a kind of shameful punishment that pursued several main tasks. The ritual served as a message, informing people about the guilt of the criminals and the impartiality of the court verdict passed by them. By enhancing the visual and sound elements of the ceremony, the organizers of the chakuda no matsurigoto achieved the correct understanding of the essence of what was happening among those present, its maximum informative accuracy. The ceremony of liberation from the iron shackles in the presence of numerous observers served as an impressive symbol of the offender’s return to the world of law-abiding people, demonstrating the indisputability of the rule of law in the Heian state.

A research note exploring firm action announcements and consumer attributions of blame: The moderating role of base‐rate information

AbstractConsumer attributions of negative events have significant implications for crisis communication. This paper employs a scenario‐based between‐subjects design experiment to examine the effects of two types of action announcement, technical and ceremonial, on consumer attributions under different base‐rate conditions (crisis frequency in category). The findings suggest that, under high base‐rate condition, technical action announcements lead to more controllability and stability attributions than ceremonial action announcements for uninvolved firms. Under low base‐rate condition, technical action announcements lead to more stability attributions than ceremonial action announcements for involved firms.

Architectural-designer proto-scenic forms of space of traditional Ukrainian ceremonies

The purpose of the article is to characterize and typify the proto-scenic forms of the space of traditional Ukrainian ceremonies. The methodological basis of the study is a systematic art analysis. The scientific novelty of the research lies in typifying and systematizing the forms of the proto-scenic space of traditional Ukrainian rites regarding their architectural and design characteristics. Conclusions. Architectural-designer proto-scenic forms of the space of traditional Ukrainian rituals are interrelated with the content of ceremonial actions. The traditional Ukrainian hut, which can be interpreted as the form of the closed proto-scenic space, serves as a variant of the proto-scenic space of traditional Ukrainian rites, because the stage and spectator areas are separated there; an action takes place in the stage zone of the space and together they are decorated corresponding to the circumstances of the plot. Another option is the open space of rural streets, squares, cemeteries, shores of basins, forest lawns or pasture behind the village, etc., which also includes zonal distribution: locations for rituals and spectator places. A static and motional way of designing a space with floral and fiery tools was traditional. The location of the stage action was frontal, arenas and in motion in the form of a procession.

Must Read Texts for Buddhists and the Modernization of Korean Buddhist Ritual

Must Read Texts for Buddhists (Pulcha p’illam 佛子必覽) is a compendium of Korean Buddhist ceremonial texts that was compiled and published in 1931 by Ch’oe Ch’wihŏ 崔就墟 (1865–d. after 1940) and An Sŏgyŏn 安錫淵 (1880–1965). It was the first attempt to systematize and modernize the Buddhist rituals performed by Koreans since the publication of Kŭngsŏn’s 亙璇 (1767–1862) Models for Making Ceremonial Actions (Chakpŏp kwigam 作法龜鑑) in 1826. Although its importance is usually overshadowed in historical memory by its successor text, An Chinho’s Buddhist Rituals (Sŏngmun ŭibŏm 釋門儀範), which was first published in 1935, Must Read Texts for Buddhists established a pattern that made Buddhist rituals accessible to lay Buddhists by presenting the liturgical material in the original Sino-Korean graphs and transcription in the Korean vernacular script. It was a practical and essential manual for both lay and monastic Buddhists in its articulation of appropriate ritual for the gamut of Buddhist practice associated with all the major and minor figures venerated in most monasteries, temples, and shrines. More important, the compilation reveals the central role of dhāraṇī and mantra in the everyday practice of Korean Buddhism, the pervasiveness of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra and the Hwaŏm cult, and the rise in importance of the Amitābha cult—all positions inherited from the late Chosŏn period. Thus, Must Read Texts for Buddhists provides a compelling snapshot of Buddhist ritual and devotional practice as imagined by leading propagators and scholars of Buddhism in colonial-period Korea.

ОБРЯДОВА ПРАКТИКА ЯК ЗАСІБ ЗБЕРЕЖЕННЯ КОЛЕКТИВНОЇ ПАМ’ЯТІ: УКРАЇНСЬКИЙ ВИМІР

Developing the strategies for conserving and rendering the social experience, and hence the basis of group identity, was unchangeable corner stone for social outlook at all stages of social development. In the meantime, it is acquiring a special significance in recent years, primarily because the globalization substantially undermines the basics of national identity, thereby causing an increase of public attention to the problems of the collective, and above all, ethnocultural identity, the mechanisms of its reproduction and legitimation.These problems are especially topical for modern Ukrainian society, which, on the one hand, is the fruit of a civilizational split and, on the other hand, of the internal and external political elites manipulative policy and low living standards.To preserve its political boundaries, the society requires not only economic stability, but also new, more effective mechanisms and strategies for social consolidation. The latter, as shown by A. Bayburin and P. Conner, can effectively be provided by thoroughly developed or historically formed spectrum of typical behavior programs that regulate all spheres of human life in society, thus forming some socially significant norms. In other words, according to the above-mentioned researchers, it is stereotypical behavior that guarantees a community existence in time as some distinct ethnographic group.Оne of the most prominent examples of stereotyped behavior is ritual practice. Possessing the established set of behavior patterns, it is able to maintain the community’s accomplished image even when its proper values lose their social significance, but continue to exist as a habit. Thus, this work highlights the role of traditional ritual practice in the process of forming the modern Ukrainian identity. In particular, the idea is defended that ritual practice is not only an inseparable element of people’s collective memory, but also the means of forming the group identity, which is perfectly confirmed by Ukrainian family ritual practice’s pecularities.It is revealed that the timeless and expressive character of ceremonial actions has a decisive importance for preserving the group identity and the established social order. Despite of the irrecurring nature, which provides the connection to the past, it always means the beginning and the end at the same time. An illustrative example in this context may be wedding, maternity and economic ceremonies. All of them are permanent and repetitive transitions from one state to another. At the same time, ritual practice gives the sense to the whole spectrum of non-ritual actions, thus defining the future’s perspective.In general, the work considers ritual practice as a specific kind of the social one. It is characterized by the set of formalized and stylized symbolic actions of the community, usually aimed at preserving the established social or by means of forming certain ideas and feelings in a person. In the course of research work, it was emphasized that the formalized, stylized and, most importantly, the repeatable nature of the ritual practice, which manifests itself through commemoration of certain historical events, memorable days or heroes, ensures its clear intention to perpetuate the connection with the past. Thus, it plays an important role in the process of preserving the collective memory. On the other hand, the formation of the community’s value system is taking place, thus contributing to the preservation of its unity.Considering the consolidating significance of the ritual practice in terms of blurring the Ukrainian cultural identity, the studying and popularization of ritual practices seems to be important and promising, which would be accompanied by commemoration of their symbolic part. Such an activity could become a significant factor in the revival of the ethno-cultural identity of the Ukrainians and promote social consolidation

Українські народні ігри як свідчення давності язичницьких обрядових дійств

Щодо проблеми ставиться питання про недосліджену сторону трансформації рухливих ігор із ритуально-обрядових дійств в народні ігри. Як саме у народній грі збереглися приховані обрядові дійства з прадавніх часів на українських землях? Як саме людина минулого за допомогою ігрових рухових дій намагалася вплинути на сили природи. Як у прадавні часи людина, будучи об’єктом впливу навколишнього середовища, розпочала будувати себе й свою ігрову історію? Чому в народних іграх, що збереглися до наших днів, приховуються магічні рухи обрядових дійств давніх українців, у яких простежуємо міфи, легенди, перекази, стосунки, працю, військові події. Мета роботи – з’ясування передумов походження народної гри та спроба зрозуміти бачення світу давніх слов’ян за допомогою рухових дій. У викладі основного матеріалу розглядаємо трансформацію ритуально-обрядового ігрового дійства в народні ігри як явища цілісного й універсального продукту, як центру конструювання відносин колективу з природою. Викладено світобачення давніх слов’ян, а саме: як за допомогою руху в грі людина минулого бажала вплинути на сили природи; яким чином рух поєднував міфи, легенди, перекази в ритуально-ігрових дійствах; у яких теперішніх іграх приховано міфічні ритуально-обрядові дійства, що з плином часу перебудувалися в народні ігри та забави. Подано гру як засіб регулювання, збереження, відтворення й розвитку загальнолюдських стосунків і цінностей у соціокультурному просторі. У висновку констатуємо взаємозв’язок ритуально-обрядових рухових дій давніх українців із силами природи та трансформацію цих дій (із плином історичного часу) у народні ігри, що є залишками міфічного бачення світу давніх українців.

EASTER HOLIDAYS IN BUKOVYNIAN HUTSULSHCHYNA: TRADITIONS AND RITUALS

The purpose of the article is to reveal regional peculiarities of Easter holidays in Bukovynian Hutsulshchyna, which are celebrated by Ukrainians of Hutsulshchyna to the present day. The research methodology consisted in the analysis of ethnographic researches on Bukovynian Hutsulshchyna and was based on collecting materials during field expeditions in Hutsul villages, which allowed for finding new traditions and rituals of Ukrainians and analyzing their modifications from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. The main research methods included the analytical, descriptive and comparative methods. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the first attempt to provide a complex study of regional peculiarities of Easter holidays and rituals in the villages of Stebni, Roztoky, Ust-Putyla in Bukovynian Hutsulshchyna. This study will help to revive the entire ritual action of Ukrainian celebrations from Yew Sunday to Farewell Sunday, to understand their essence and stages of development. Conclusions. As a result of the analysis of Easter rituals in the villages of Stebni, Roztoky and Ust-Putyla, Putyla district, Bukovynian Hutsulshchyna, regional features concerning Easter celebrations which are only peculiar to Hutsuls of Bukovyna region were revealed. The main features of Bukovynian Hutsulshchyna include ceremonial action involving pussy willow on Yew Sunday, the attitude of Hutsuls to fire on Chare Thursday, special worship of the ancestors during the whole celebration of Easter holidays and children’s rituals involving Easter eggs on Monday after Easter.

REMAINS OF BROWN BEAR (URSUS ARCTOS L.) FROM THE KANINSKAYA CAVE SANCTUARY IN THE NORTHERN URALS

Fossil remains of brown bear from Kaninskaya cave in the northern Ural are described. They were accumulated during the Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, and Late Iron Age as a result of human activity. We analyze the composition of skeletal elements and the nature of their fragmentation. Sex and age of individuals whose bones were apparently used in rituals are assessed, and the seasonality of these ceremonies is evaluated. The main object of ceremonial actions during all chronological periods was the head. Crania and mandibles were cracked into several parts according to one and the same fashion. Other skeletal parts were used much less often. Most postcranial bones were likewise broken into several pieces. Such practices differ from modern Ob Ugrian bear rituals. In the Bronze Age, heads of adult male and female bears were used, and the ceremonies were performed mainly in winter, less often in summer and autumn, and very rarely in spring. In the Iron Age, too, heads of adult animals, mostly males, were used, and ceremonies were held throughout the year but more often in summer and in winter. Seasonal bear rites were not practiced. Certain elements of rites, differing from those of modern Ob Ugrians, are reconstructed. Modern Ob Ugrian bear rituals were formed in the Late Iron Age.