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« 2025. # 2 (182)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2024. № 2 (182), 423—438

UDK 393; 393.05; 394.2; 394.5; 398.332

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

SYMBOLIC FUNERAL IN UKRAINIAN PROTEST FOLKLORE: A TRANSFORMED TRADITION

IVANNIKOVA Lіudmyla

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0617-5082
  • Dr. Philology, Senior Scientific Worker,
  • Rylsky Institute for Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnology,
  • Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences,
  • 4, Hrushevskoho str., 01001, Kyiv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: ivannikovafolk@ukr.net

Abstract. The subject of this study is the symbolic funeral, which has been little studied by folklorists. It arose in the 20th century as a form of protest against totalitarian regimes. In recent decades, it has become an regular part of street actionism and one of the components of mass culture in Ukraine. Scientific novelty: this is the first work in the history of Ukrainian folklore devoted to this topic. 

The purpose of the study is to trace the process of transformation of the traditional ritual from archaic to modern profane forms, the change in its semantics and pragmatics, subject, verbal and action codes, to clarify the pragmatics of modern forms of symbolic funeral in the context of Ukrainian protest folklore, its connection with memorial practices of the 20th—21st centuries, with imitative magic, and interaction with other forms of protest folklore. The source base of the article is the author’s own observations, materials collected over several decades, and publications on social networks.

In traditional culture, along with the sacred funeral ritual, there is a whole range of its profane forms, which are called metaphorical or symbolic funerals. They imitate a real funeral in a symbolic form. They are spread mainly as elements of calendar rites. Their goal is to send into oblivion a certain being, and at the same time the phenomenon of nature that it symbolizes. In addition to symbolic ones, there were various game and parody forms of funeral in folk culture. These are games at the dead, children’s games at the funeral or at the dead. Their pragmatics consisted in the assimilation of traditional norms of behavior through the game. They also had a protective and entertaining function. They were accompanied by pretended crying, parodied the main elements of the rite. Thus, the funeral gradually moved from the sphere of the sacred to the sphere of the profane and became an ordinary part of the culture of laughter.

On the basis of sacred and profane forms, another occasional form of symbolic funeral emerged. It dominates mainly in urban culture. It has become one of the most popular types of performance, in which a large number of protesters usually participate. This is a symbolic funeral of certain political and social phenomena (state system, worldview system, party ideology, economic formation) and odious personalities. This is a kind of protest against various totalitarian, occupation and criminal regimes in Ukraine and their leaders. 

Keywords: folklore of protests and revolutions, symbolic funeral, performance, coffin, tombstone, imitative magic, modern magical practices.

Received 11.03.2025

REFERENCES

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