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The Ethnology Notebooks. 2023. № 5 (173), 1247—1255

UDK 339.16.012.32:636.2(477.83)

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2023.05.1247

«IF THE DEVIL TAKES THE ROPE, HE WILL TAKE THE COW»: LOCAL TRADITIONS OF CATTLE TRADING

POZHODZHUK Dmytro

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1207-9388
  • Doctor of Philosophy, assistant,
  • Department of History of Ukraine and Economic Theory,
  • 50, Pekarska St., 79010, Lviv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: pozhodzhuk@lvet.edu.ua

Abstract. Customs and rituals of cattle trade are still poorly studied to this day, since they have been dealt. At the same time, the offered topic resonates with many other areas of traditional Ukrainian ritual culture.

Relevance of this research also lies in the fact that it is based on thematic field materials from historical and ethnographic Volyn collected by the author in person.

The article purpose is to describe trade-related cattle customs and rituals discovered in villages Dubrivka, Zakrynychchia, Kozhushky, Krasulia, Myroslavl, Serednia, and Ternivka in Zviahel district of Zhytomyr region.

The research object is customary practices associated with purchase and sale of livestock (including cattle).

The survey subject is: the custom of giving money «for good luck»; the custom of «rake-offs» in the context of buying and selling livestock; rituals with a tether or sack; magical practices performed with the purchased cattle in a new household; the issue of choosing the color; ritual methods of buying cattle used if the cattle «did not settle».

Chronological limits of the research cover the second half of the 19th and early 21st centuries, and the territorial boundaries are settlements of historical and ethnographic Volyn. At the same time, the author has attracted much broader comparative material.

Accordingly, the research methodology is based on descriptive and comparative-historical methods, and previously on an ethnographic component that consisted in an oral interview of respondents using a pre-designed thematic questionnaire.

Keywords: ethnology, cattle breeding, historical and ethnographic Volyn, Zviahel district, buying and selling cattle, money «for good luck», tether, color.

Received 1.08.2023

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