Slavic Folklore DIDACTICAL GUIDELINES

VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL STUDIES AND ETHNOLOGY Laima Anglickienė Slavic Folklore DIDACTICAL GUIDELINES Kaunas, 2013 Reviewed by Prof. Dr. Gražina Skabeikytė-Kazlauskienė Approved by the Department of Cultural Studies and Ethnology of the Faculty of Humanities at Vytautas Magnus University on 27 November 2012 (Protocol No. 11) Recommended for printing by the Council of the Faculty of Humanities of Vytautas Magnus University on 28 December 2012 (Protocol No. 8–2) Translated and edited by UAB “Lingvobalt” Publication of the didactical guidelines is supported by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Project title: “Renewal and Internationalization of Bachelor Degree Programmes in History, Ethnology, Philosophy and Political Science” (project No.: VP1-2.2-ŠMM-07-K-02-048) © Laima Anglickienė, 2013 ISBN 978-9955-21-352-9 © Vytautas Magnus University, 2013 Table of Contents Preface . 5 I. Slavic Peoples: Origin and Spread . 7 II. System of Genres of Slavic Folklore . 15 III. Calendar Feasts and Their Folklore . 21 1. Folklore of Winter Feasts . 24 2. Folklore of Spring Feasts . 33 3. Folklore of Summer Feasts . 52 IV. Work Calendar . 58 V. Folklore of the Stages of Life . 63 1. Birth Customs . 63 2. Children’s Folklore . 66 3. Wedding Folklore . 67 4. Funeral Folklore . 77 5. Laments of Conscripts (‘Recruits’) . 83 VI. Mythological and Historical Reflections in the Slavic Epic and Songs . 85 1. Mythological Epic Songs . 85 2. Historical Epic Songs . 88 3. Ballads and Dumas . 92 4. Russian Historical Songs . 99 5. South Slavic Historical Songs . 106 6. Spiritual Songs . 106 VII. Non-ritual Lyric Songs and Chastushki . 112 VIII. Epic Prose Genres . 120 1. Folktales . 121 Russian Folktales . 122 Most Popular Characters of Russian Folktales . 126 South Slavic Folktales . 129 2. Bylichki / Belief Legends . 134 Spirits of Fate / Death/ Diseases . 136 Spirits of Nature . 137 Household Spirits . 142 IX. Charms and Everyday Magic . 145 Recommended Literature . 150 Preface The purpose of this book is to introduce students to the major characteristics of folklore of East, South and West Slavs. A great share of traditional customs and folklore in Western Eu- rope fell into oblivion or underwent significant changes as early as the 19th century. The Slavs, in particular the East Slavs, on the con- trary, maintained their traditions and folklore for quite a long time. Therefore, the present teaching tool focuses on the archaic folkloric phenomena preserved by Slavic peoples. Ritual songs and other ar- tistic creation are presented in the context of calendar, work and family customs, thus showing students the importance of analysing oral folklore and traditions using a complex approach. Due to a vast area inhabited by Slavic peoples across Europe, it is not possible to give a comprehensive presentation of all folklore genres. Hence, the focus of attention is on the most significant feasts of one or another nation and the most popular and peculiar genres of folklore. Considering that the terminology of folklore genres slightly dif- fers across nations, the publication does not limit with the terms in English; the terms used in the Slavic folklore are specified next to English equivalents. Like original names of the major feasts and characters, they are written in Italic in the text. Each chapter ends with the tasks for the individual work of students. The publication offers a number of tasks of comparative type, where students are asked to compare their native traditions with 5 Slavic Folklore the customs and folklore of the Slavs or any of the Slavic nations. They will help the entire group of students attending the course to see the similarities and differences of folklore of different nations and to understand the universal characteristics and those influ- enced by ethnic traditions, religious and historical reasons. Lithu- anian customs and folklore have a great deal in common with the East Slavic and Polish folklore; certain calendar feasts in Lithuania are still celebrated both in families and in public; therefore, foreign students could be offered to take part in the Lithuanian calendar feasts and to sense, to any extent, the spirit of such feasts. Students will find the list of the main and additional literature in different languages at the end of the book. I. Slavic Peoples: Origin and Spread Fig. 1. Slavic countries The Slavs are approximately 240 million people across Europe and Asia (Siberia). According to other authors (e. g. Kalevi Wiik from Finland), one of the Slavic languages is a mother tongue to 294 million people. It is the most numerous group of languages and 7 Slavic Folklore peoples in Europe. The peoples speaking Slavic languages mostly inhabit Central and Eastern Europe. What is more, some 100 million people speak Russian as their second language. It should be noted that the use of Russian as the second language significantly reduced after the collapse of the Soviet Union. By their linguistic traits, Slavic peoples are divided into West Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Sorbs / Lusatian Serbs and Kashubi- ans), East Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians) and South Slavs (Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Montenegrins) (see Fig. 1.). The countries with the largest population of people of Slavic de- scent are listed below: East Slavs West Slavs South Slavs Russia Poland Slovenia Ukraine Czech Republic Croatia Belarus Slovakia Serbia Bosnia and Herzegovina Macedonia Bulgaria Montenegro Considerable Slavic national minorities live in Kazakhstan, Kir- ghizistan, Moldova, Latvia and Estonia. Slavic peoples also have their minorities in Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Germany (Sorbs), Austria. Slavic Peoples without a Country of Their Own Sorbs (also known as Lusatian Serbs) are a West Slavic people living predominantly in Lusatia, a region on the territory of present-day Germany (see Fig. 2). Sorbs are divided into two groups speaking their dialects: ◆ Upper Sorbs (about 40,000 people); ◆ Lower Sorbs (about 20,000 people). 8 Slavic Peoples: Origin and Spread According to a hypothesis, in the 5th century the common ancestors of Serbs and Sorbs separated from other Slavic peoples and subsequently fell into two groups. One of the groups, known as the White Serbs, reached the Balkans through the Carpathi- an Mountains under the leadership of the Fig. 2. Lusatian lands Unknown Archont, where they evolved into the present-day Serbs. The second group settled in the middle reaches of the Elbe and be- came Sorbs. De Administrando Imperio written by Emperor Con- stantine VII Porphyrogenitus tells that a brother of the Unknown Archont had remained with a group of the Serb people in what is today called Lusatia. Yet another hypothesis maintains that the ethnonyms ‘Serbs’ and ‘Sorbs’ originated independently. Kashubians are West Slavic people. They live in Poland, mostly the region south- westwards from Gdańsk and Gdynia re- ferred to as Kashubia (see Fig. 3). From this land a part of Kashubians migrated to the USA, Canada, Germany or other regions of Poland. Fig. 3. Territory The total Kashubian population varies inhabited by Kashu- greatly depending on the methodology of bians calculation – from 50,000 to 500,000 Kashubians are estimated to live in Poland. 300,000 is the most common figure. Strict require- ments were applied in the Polish census of 2002: a resident did not have an option to declare one nationality and a different ethnicity, or more than one nationality; therefore, only ~5,100 Polish residents declared Kashubian nationality. In 2002, 51,000 Polish residents declared Kashubian as their mother tongue (cf. after World War II ~200,000 Polish residents could speak Kashubian). 9 Slavic Folklore The Kashubian (or Pomeranian) ethnic group formed in the 6–12th century as various West Slavic, Germanic and West Baltic tribes merged together. Even though Kashubians established a rather strong state in the 10th century, the first mention of this name dates back to the 13th century only. The earliest known mention of Kashubians can be traced back to the 1238 document of Pope Gregor IX, specifying the title of the west Pomeranian dukes dux Slavorum et Cassubia. Until around the transition from the 18th to the 19th century this ethnic group inhabited the entire area between the Vistula and Oder rivers. They were under continuous influence of the German culture, whereas from the 2nd half of the 18th century they faced the targeted Germanization of the Prussian (later Ger- man) administration. In the mid-19th century the east Kashubian region gave rise to the Kashubian national revival movement with the Kashubian national cultural movement as its peculiar sequel taking place in Po- land since 1945. In the times of Communist Poland, Kashubians were considered a Polish ethnographic group, which was subject to Polonization. Origin of the Name Slavs The etymology of the name Slav is still obscure; none of a number of theories offered by linguists has been universally accepted. Some researchers believe that the Venedi mentioned by Tacitus are also a Slavic people. The first mention of the Slavs in the written sources dates back to the 6th century. The peoples which Roman historians placed between Galindians and Sarmatians before that time are also some- times attributed to the Slavs. Even the earliest sources use rather different names to refer to the Slavs. The oldest Slavic monuments mention Slovene (plural from the singular Slovenin), their country is called Slovensko, their language – slovenesk jazyk, and their people – slovensk narod. 10 Slavic Peoples: Origin and Spread As testified by Cassiodorus-Jordanes, the names of Slavic tribes are, as a rule, derived from their inhabited area; therefore, we may guess that the word Slavs marks a description which was likely coined by the neighbouring foreign peoples rather than the name used by the Slavs to refer to themselves.

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