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The Ethnology Notebooks. 2025. № 3 (183), 613—624

UDK [392.1:393-055.62](=161.2)

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

«WHEN THE CHILDREN OF THE FAMILY ARE NOT ALL RIGHT»: TRADITIONAL UKRAINIAN FOLK BELIEFS ABOUT EARLY CHILD MORTALITY

HALAICHUK Volodymyr

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7780-5876
  • Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor,
  • The Ivan Franko National University of Lviv,
  • Department of Ethnology,
  • 1, Universytets’ka str., 79000, L’viv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: halay_czuk@ukr.net

Abstract. The article examines the layer of folk customs, rituals, and worldviews associated with early child mortality, such as the idea of ​​the possible impact on newborn children of the place where the mother’s dwelling is built; folk customs of passing a child through a window, symbolically «selling» it or giving it to someone else’s family for feeding; customs of taking the first person you meet or a brother and sister as godparents; the rite of making a «one-day-made» cloth; customs of giving a child a different name, calling it by the name of its parents, etc.

The relevance of the topic is explained by the relevance of studying the traditional spiritual culture of Ukrainians, including childbirth rituals as an integral part of it.

The purpose of this research is to consider and analyze the probable causes that, according to popular beliefs, could cause early child mortality, and ways to prevent it.

The object of the study is the traditional family rituals of Ukrainians, and the subject is customs and rituals designed to ensure the survival of the child in cases where previous children in the family die as infants.

The methodological basis of the article is the comprehensive involvement of a number of general scientific methods, the main of which is the method of typological analysis.

The sources of the article were materials by P. Chubynskyi, A. Onyshchuk, V. Kravchenko, N. Havrylyuk, V. Boryak, R. Siletskyi, O. Kondratovych, O. Kondratyuk, I. Hilevych, Dz. Hanus, N. Boyko and other researchers, as well as the author’s field ethnographic materials.

Keywords: ethnology, spiritual culture, folk beliefs, customs and rituals, family rituals, infant mortality, «counter» godparents, «sale» of a child, «one-day-made» cloth.

Received 8.05.2025

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