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
REFERENCES:
1. Gennep A. van. (1999). Obryady perekhoda. Sistematicheskoe izuchenie obryadov [Rites of passage. Systematic study of rites]. Moskva: Vostoch. lit-ra, 198 [in Russian].
2. Kukharenko O. O. (2016). Kryterii podilu struktury vesilnykh obriadiv [Criteria for dividing the structure of wedding ceremonies]. Paradyhma piznannia: humanitarni pytannia [The paradigm of cognition: humanitarian issues], 8, 36–49 [in Ukrainian].
3. Kukharenko O. O. (2021). Zmina khronotopu ta rivnia sakralizatsii u strukturi tsyklu rodylnykh obriadiv [Changes in the chronotope and level of sacralization in the structure of the cycle of birth rites]. Narodna tvorchist ta etnolohiia [Folk art and ethnology], 3, 136–143 [in Ukrainian].
4. Kukharenko O. O. (2021). Pryroda y zhinka yak symvoly poliforii v strukturi tsyklu rodylnykh obriadiv [Nature and woman as symbols of polyphoria in the structure of the cycle of childbirth rites]. Etnichna istoriia narodiv Yevropy [Ethnic history of the peoples of Europe], 64, 15–20 [in Ukrainian].
5. Kukharenko O. O., Kukharenko A. V. (2019). Sakralne y profanne v ukrainskii vesilnii obriadovosti: vkhid do obriadu y vykhid iz noho [Sacred and profane in Ukrainian wedding ceremonies: entering and leaving the ceremony]. Visnyk Mariupolskoho derzhavnoho universytetu [Bulletin of Mariupol State University], 17, 39–45 [in Ukrainian].
6. Kukharenko O. O., Kukharenko A. V. (2019). Stvorennia struktury tsyklu ukrainskykh tradytsiinykh pokhovalnykh obriadiv [Creating the structure of the cycle of Ukrainian traditional funeral rites]. Kultura Ukrainy [Culture of Ukraine], 64, 185–194 [in Ukrainian].
7. Levi-Stros K. (1985). Strukturnaya antropologiya [Structural anthropology]. Moskva: Glav. red. vostoch. lit-ry, 536 [in Russian].
8. Propp V. Ya. (2001). Morfologiya volshebnoy skazki [Morphology of a fairy tale]. Moskva: Labirint, 192 [in Russian].
9. Terner V. (1983). Simvol i ritual [Symbol and ritual]. Moskva: Nauka, 277 [in Russian].
10. Kukharenko O. (2018). Structure and Functions of the Maternity Cycle of Rites in the Traditional National Ritualism. Paradigm of Knowledge. Multidisciplinary Scientific Journal. Muscat, 4, 73–85.