The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 2 (188), 575—580
UDK 398.332.39:271.2-564.17-312.47](477)”192/20″
- Received: 10.03.2026
- Accepted: 23.03.2026
- Published: 27.04.2026
THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN MARY: THE SACRED BEGINNING OF THE WINTER CYCLE IN UKRAINIAN CALENDAR RITUALS
DIAKIV Volodymyr
- ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9513-4364
- PhD of Philological Sciences, Senior Researcher Fellow of the Ethnology
- Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
- 15, Svobody Avenue, 79000, Lviv, Ukraine;
- Lviv Polytechnic National University, department of the Ukrainian
- language Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences,
- 12, Bandera str., 79013, Lviv, Ukraine,
- Contacts: е-mail: d.v.m.1029@gmail.com
Abstract. Introduction. The relevance of the study lies in the need to analyze Ukrainians’ folk-religious beliefs and perceptions related to the Feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary (Vvedennia) in connection with the pre-Christmas and New Year period in the traditional folk calendar. This feast marks an important transition in the ritual structure of the early winter cycle and reflects the interaction of Christian doctrine with older layers of traditional worldview.
Problem Statement. The object of the study is the folk calendar rituals of Ukrainians associated with the Feast of the Presentation, primarily traditional ritual practices within the early winter and pre-Christmas period. The subject of the research is the specific manifestations of folk Christian religiosity expressed in these ritual forms and beliefs.
Purpose. The purpose of the article is to outline the folk-religious ideas and beliefs characteristic of the Feast of the Presentation and the early winter period, to distinguish their traditional foundations and later modifications, and to determine the specific functioning of ideological, semantic and structural components of calendar ritual culture.
Materials and Methods. The source base of the study consists mainly of archival and field materials, as well as scholarly literature on Ukrainian ethnology and folklore. In analyzing the materials, the article applies primarily comparative-typological and historical-cultural methods, as well as, to a certain extent, structural-typological, geographical and other ethnological approaches. The research focuses on ethnographic regions of Ukraine from the first half of the nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century.
Results. Based on archival and field sources as well as scholarly studies, the article examines the functioning of a specific form of folk religiosity in the traditional calendar rituals of Ukrainians through the example of the Feast of the Presentation. Particular attention is paid to ritual prohibitions, beliefs, symbolic actions and ideas about the beginning of winter time, which reveal the sacral meaning of this holiday in the folk calendar.
Conclusion. The Feast of the Presentation occupies an important place in the structure of the Ukrainian folk calendar as a symbolic beginning of the early winter ritual cycle and a precursor to the pre-Christmas and New Year period. Folk beliefs and ritual practices connected with this day reflect a complex synthesis of Christian and pre-Christian elements, demonstrating the continuity and transformation of traditional folk religiosity in Ukrainian culture.
Keywords: Presentation, folk religiosity, calendar rituals, tradition, beliefs, functioning.
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