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« 2026. № 5 (191)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 5 (191), 1485—1495

UDK 393.05(477.86)

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

  • Received: 27.07.2026
  • Accepted: 27.08.2026
  • Published: ??.??.2026

TRADITIONAL ATTITUDES TOWARD SUICIDES ON THE TERRITORY OF POKUTTIA

HALAICHUK Volodymyr

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7780-5876
  • Doctor of Science in the field of History,
  • Professor of the Department of Ethnology,
  • Ivan Franko National University of Lviv,
  • 1, Universytetska Str., 79000, Lviv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: halay_czuk@ukr.net

Abstract. Funeral and memorial customs have long held a prominent place in the research of Ukrainian ethnographers. However, scholars have primarily focused on traditions associated with the burial of an «ordinary» deceased person — that is, someone who died a natural death. In contrast, beliefs surrounding those who died an untimely death, particularly those who committed suicide, have been addressed only in passing. This underscores the relevance of the present publication.

The aim of this article is to fill the aforementioned research gap and present a general overview of the traditional attitudes toward suicide among the people of Pokuttia, based on original field records. The article’s central premise is that, within the worldview of the Pokuttia region, death by suicide played a significant role not only for the soul of the deceased but also for the community as a whole.

The object of the study is the funeral and memorial ritual practices of the people of Pokuttia, while the subject comprises the rites, customs, beliefs, and superstitions associated with those who died by suicide.

The geographical scope of the study covers the ethnographic region of Pokuttia, and the chronological timeframe spans from the late 19th to the early 21st century.

The methodological foundation of this publication comprises a combination of general scientific and specialized methods, the primary one being the method of field ethnography. Regarding the source base, it is worth noting that the traditional funeral and memorial rituals of the Pokuttia region have been examined in the works of numerous ethnographers, including Oskar Kolberg, Olena Kysilevska, Osyp Mykhailetskyi, Ivan Voloshynskyi, Mykhailo Pankiv, Lesia Horoshko-Pohoretska, and Volodymyr Halaichuk. At the same time, this study is primarily based on materials collected by the author in settlements across the Horodenka, Kolomyia, Kosiv, Sniatyn, and Tlumach districts between 2015 and 2018.

Keywords: ethnology, Pokuttya, traditional folk culture, funeral and memorial rituals, beliefs, death, suicides, domestic devil, archaeology of Ukraine, Vysotsk culture, Chernyakhiv culture.

RЕFЕRЕNCЕS

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