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The Ethnology Notebooks. 2024. № 2 (176), 346—358

UDK 392.8(=161.2:477.4):638.16

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2024.02.346

THE CUSTOM OF TREATING PEOPLE WITH NEWLY HARVESTED HONEY IN RIGHT-BANK OF POLISSIA: TRADITIONS AND MODERNITY (BASED ON EXPEDITION MATERIALS)

DMYTRENKO Alla

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6125-8628
  • Candidate of Historical Sciences,
  • Associate Professor of the Department of Museum Studies,
  • Monument Studies and information and analytical activities,
  • Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University;
  • Researcher, State Research Center for the Protection
  • of Cultural Heritage from Man-caused Disasters,
  • 13 Voli Avenue, 43025, Lutsk, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: dmytrenko.a@gmail.com

Abstract. Based on the expedition materials collected during the historical and ethnographic expeditions of the State Scientific Center for the Protection of Cultural Heritage from Man-caused Disasters and the Department of Museum Studies, Monument Studies and Information and Analytical Activities of Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University (2005—2023), the article highlights the traditions associated with honey selection in the Right-Bank Polissya of Ukraine.

The purpose of the article is to explore the essence of the custom of treating newly harvested honey, which is typical for forest beekeeping (board and log) and its current state, including in-frame beekeeping; find out the origins of this custom and its roots, to examine the essence of the term «bond» mentioned in the works of O. Serzhputovsky and M. Hrushevsky and to find out its origin. Analyze the peculiarities of treating newly collected honey in different villages of Right-Bank of Polissya. To note the existence of the custom of treating with novelty, especially caught fish, picked berries, fresh meat and lard, milk, etc. in different regions of Ukraine and its preservation to this day. The object of the study is the custom of treating people with newly harvested honey, which is characteristic of different forms of beekeeping: forest (beehive and log) and home (log and frame). The subject of the research is the origins and peculiarities of the custom of treating with newly harvested honey in forest and home beekeeping and its ethno-cultural parallels; peculiarities of treating children and adults; traditions and prohibitions related to treating with newly harvested honey near the beehive and on the way home; the connection of the custom of treating with newly harvested honey with treating neighbors and relatives with other news. The methodological basis is laid on the principles of structural-functional and systemic approaches, methods of descriptive-analytical and contextual analysis, collection of field ethnographic materials was carried out according to the author’s questionnaires by the spray method.

Keywords: Right Bank of Polissia, ethnic culture, ethnographic expeditions, beekeeping, honey sampling/«bee watching», treating with newly collected honey, the custom of «bond».

Received 21.02.2024

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