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« 2022. # 3 (165)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2022. № 3 (165), 706—720

UDK [[801.81:398.81]:355.318]:811.161.2-13](477)”1914/…”

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2022.03.706

«OH, THE RED GUELDER ROSE IN THE MEADOW …», OR WHY THE RIFLEMEN’S SONG BECAME A SYMBOL OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE AND A MARKER OF UKRAINIAN IDENTITY

KUZMENKO Oksana

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0512-6388
  • Doctor of Sciences in Philology
  • (Ph. D. in Folklore Studies), Senior Scholar,
  • Leading Research Associate,
  • The Ethnology Institute
  • National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
  • Department of Social Anthropology,
  • 15, Svobody Avenue, 79000, Lviv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: е-mail: kuzmenko.oksana@gmail.com

Abstract. The relevance of the article is determined by the necessity to highlight the history of the folklorization of the song «Oj u luzi chervona kalyna» / Oh, the Red Guelder Rose in the Meadow», which has become popular all over the world since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The purpose of the article is to establish the genetic links between the song-hymn of the USS Legion and other works of Ukrainian ritual folklore (carols, wedding songs, laments), and most importantly, with non-ritual lyric epics. The rifle song is typologically close to the Cossack and insurrectional songs, in the poetics of which symbolism of guelder-rose is used and the semantic productivity of which is the subject of research. Scientific novelty — on the basis of the author’s personal experience of communicating with refugees and a review of mass media platforms was carried out an analysis of methods of adapting the song by professional Ukrainian and foreign singers, ensembles and folk performers of various ages, which ensured the secondary folklorization of the composition with literary origin.

Proven facts are presented from the history of the song, which was created at the beginning of the First World War, the geography of the variants distribution is determined, the reasons and manifestations of textual changes are analyzed. The folklorism and peculiarities of the poetics of the song are separately considered, which are based on a combination of archaic symbols (guelder-rose, mother, glory), folk formulas and metaphors that are able to combine and build up modern meanings («to raise the guelder-rose» = to win the state, «Ukraine become pained» = occupation). It was concluded that the conceptual meaning of the main images of the song helps to reveal the national identity of modern Ukrainians who are striving for freedom. The song is an expression of the political consciousness, integration and determination of Ukrainian citizens in their opposition to the aggression of the Russian Federation and a non-military form of participation in the liberation war.

The methodological basis is the principles of diachronic-synchronic analysis and historicism, as well as a functional-systemic approach to study of the phenomena of national song culture with the involvement of historical-typological, semantic-structural methods of analysis of verbal texts.

Keywords: Russian-Ukrainian war, Ukrainian folklore, Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, Riflemen song, popular song, folklorism, folklorization, folklore concept, symbol, red guelder-rose.

Received 6.07.2022

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