Oleksandr Kukharenko
Oleksandr Kukharenko
PhD, associate professor of Kharkiv State Academy of Culture
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5421-1004
DOI: 10.17721/2522-4611.2022.46.8
UKRAINIAN MATERNITY RITUALISM:
STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL STUDY
In the article the author proves the possibility of applying the method of structural and functional analysis for the study of family rites and summarizes the study of previous publications dedicated to the construction of the structure of the maternity cycle of the national ritualism. The invariant of the traditional maternity rite, acceptable for most regions and ethnographic districts of Ukraine, was used for the research. Creating the structure of the ritual cycle begins with the division of each rite into episodes, using clearly defined criteria: new level recurrence of events, social metamorphosis of character statuses, change of sacred chronotope, the principle of constant renewal, change of nature of the action in the episode. The structure makes it possible to determine the transitional rites, to divide the whole cycle into stages depending on the change of status of the main character, to indicate the direction of movement of the born from the other world to this, which is directly opposite to the path of the deceased. Due to the structure, pairs of antinomies were established, the contradictions between which are the driving force for the performance of ritual actions; the limits of sacralization of reality by the energy of the afterlife are determined; the limits of expansion and contraction of temporal and spatial criteria of the rite; characters-mediators and episodes of mediation are identified, where further ritual actions are provoked; the entrance to the ceremony for its main participants and exit from it are marked; the connection with the phenomenon of fertility, which forms the basis of all maternity rites, has been studied. The study notes that the structure can be widely used for further studies of the national traditional rites and contribute to obtaining new scientific results.
Key words: Ukrainian ritualism, family rites, maternity rite, structural and functional method, rites of passage, antinomy, mediation.
Received by the editorial board: 2.02.2022
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