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The Ethnology Notebooks. 2019, 2 (146), 328—345

UDK 398.332.1/.2:58(=161.2:477:292.452)
DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2019.02.328

THE BELIEFSASSOCIATED WITH TREES IN THE SPRING-SUMMER RITUALISM OF UKRAINIANS FROM CARPATHIAN REGION

GOSHCHYTSKA Tatyana

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8596-8974

Candidate of historical sciences / Doctor of Philosophy,

Researcher fellow of department of Historical Ethnology

of the Institute of Ethnology

The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,

15, Svobody Avenue, 79000, Lviv, Ukraine

Contacts: e-mail: hoshchitska.tetiana@gmail.com

Abstract. Introduction: The beliefs associated with the trees were expressed almost the most strikingly (compared with the other parts of the ceremonial culture) in the traditional ritualism of the spring-summer cycle of the Ukrainians of Carpathian region. Problem Statement: The use of the wood and its aloforms as a ritual attribute was embodied in: consecration of the branches of the trees; decoration of the house and yard with greenery as a way to provide protection timed to certain calendar dates; existence of various prejudices and omens associated with trees; establishment of «vicha» (a kind of «igornyi oak») on the pastures and public celebrations around it during specific holidays. Purpose: The purpose of the article is to systematize and analyze data on the use of aloforms of the tree and the beliefs associated with them in the traditional spring-summer rituals of the Ukrainian Carpathians. Methods: The main methods involved in the article are structural, comparative and analytical. Results: In the article in particular have been systemized and analyzed Ukrainians’traditional beliefs, warnings and prohibitions tied with the choice of certain plants for decorating of dwellings and homestead construction on the eve of the Trinity Festival. these attributes in the studied region, had a pronounced specificity which was used in a variety of ways (a set of attributes, a way of applying them to the ritual, the term of use, etc.). Moreover, these rituals remained rather fragile, although their original semantics was lost. Тhese attributes in the studied region, had a pronounced specificity which was used in a variety of ways (a set of attributes, a way of applying them to the ritual, the term of use, etc.). Conclusion: In general, the use of the trees as an important attribute of the rites should be linked, first of all, with the relics of the cults of the dead ancestors and the ritual of reception and passage of the deceased into «the other world», while marking the key dates from the most important period of the agricultural year.

Keywords: traditional ritualism, spring-summer cycle, Ukrainian Carpathians, beliefs, cult of vegetation.

Received 31.01.2019

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