Structural and functional research of Ukrainian wedding rituals
Main Article Content
Abstract
The aim of the article is to prove the possibility of applying the method of structural and functional analysis to scientific research of the ceremonial cycle of Ukrainian weddings. Thanks to the method, we obtained a structure in which the large cycle is divided into three small cycles of pre-wedding, wedding and post-wedding ceremonies, small cycles – into separate rites, and the rites are decomposed into episodes. Criteria for division into components are new-level and generalizing repetition of the event, social metamorphosis of the characters of sacred action, change of the sacred chronotope, the principle of constant renewal, change of the nature of the action.
In addition, the structure is divided into four stages, which change along with the change in social status of the main characters: a boy and a girl into a bride and a groom, the newly-weds, a man and a woman. The meaning of wedding ceremonies is that a boy and a girl become a man and a woman; but without ceremonial actions, without the sacralization of reality, without the intervention of the otherworldly, without the opposition of antinomian couples, such a transition is impossible. Therefore, there is a need, according to ritual conditions, in the intermediate sacred statuses: the bride and groom, the newly-weds.
The created structure of the ceremonial wedding cycle allows to outline the chronological and topographical boundaries of the rites, identify the goals of ritual actions and characters of each episode, characterize the characters and archetypes of the personages, divide the participants and topographic objects into antinomies, identify personages-mediators, establish entries to the rites and exits from them, to find out the limits of sacralization of fertility and its influence on the ritual actions of the wedding complex rites.
It has been established that due to antinomic pairs detected by the structure, a conflict arises, which is the driving force of any wedding cycle ceremony. In the culminating rite of the barn is the last transition of the main characters to the final social status. All other characters return to the original profane statuses, because the main task of the ritual cycle, with the maximum sacralization of reality by the influence of the energy of the afterlife, is achieved.
In the process of studying, it was established that in ceremonial wedding events there is not only sacralization, but also sacralization of fertility. Fertility in rituals is realized in a mass of images and symbols, both real and folk, in particular in the traditional songs of the rites of komora and perezva.
Thus, it should be considered that the use of the method of structural and functional analysis is actually acceptable for research of the national wedding ceremonies.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
A.K. Bajburin, Ritual v tradicionnoj kulture: strukturno-semanticheskij analiz vostochnoslavyanskih obryadov [Ritual in Traditional Culture: Structural and Semantic Analysis of East Slavic Rites], Sankt-Peterburg, Nauka, 1993, 240 s.
P. Chubinskij, Trudy etnografichesko-statisticheskoj ekspedicii v Zapadno-Russkij kraj… [Proceedings of an Ethnographic and Statistical Expedition to the Western Russian Territory...], Sankt-Peterburg, 1877, T. 4, 715 s.
Etnografiya vostochnyh slavyan: Ocherki tradicionnoj kultury [Ethnography of the Eastern Slavs: Essays on Traditional Culture], Moskva, Nauka, 1987, 560 s.
A. van. Gennep, Obryady perehoda. Sistematicheskoe izuchenie obryadov [Rites of Passage. Systematic Study of Rites], Moskva, Vostoch. lit-ra, 1999, 198 s.
G.I. Kalinovskij, Opisanie svadebnyh ukrainskih prostonarodnyh obryadov, v Maloj Rossii i v Slobodskoj Ukrainskoj gubernii, takozh i v velikorossijskih slobodah, naselennyh malorossiyanami, upotreblyaemyh [Description of Wedding Ukrainian Folk Rituals, in Little Russia and in the Sloboda Ukrainian Province, as Well as in the Great Russian Settlements Inhabited by Little Russians, Used], Sankt-Peterburg, 1777, 27 s.
O.O. Kukharenko, Antynomnist obiektiv, symvoliv i personazhiv ukrainskoho tradytsiinoho vesilnoho obriadu [Antinomy of Objects, Symbols and Characters of the Ukrainian Traditional Wedding Ceremony], in «Ukrainska kultura: mynule, suchasne, shliakhy rozvytku», 2018, Vyp. 29, s. 27–32.
O.O. Kukharenko, Chasovi y prostorovi mezhi sakralizatsii v strukturno-funktsionalnykh doslidzhenniakh ukrainskoho vesillia [Temporal and Spatial Boundaries of Sacralization in Structural and Functional Studies of Ukrainian Weddings], in «Aktualni problemy istorii, teorii ta praktyky khudozhnoi kultury», 2018, Vyp. 41. s. 24–30.
O.O. Kukharenko, Kryterii podilu struktury vesilnykh obriadiv [Criteria for Dividing the Structure of Wedding Ceremonies], in «Paradyhma piznannia: humanitarni pytannia», 2016, № 8, s. 36–49.
O.O. Kukharenko, A.V. Kukharenko, Tsili rytualnykh tseremonii i vyznachennia kharakteru dii epizodiv u strukturi tsyklu natsionalnoi vesilnoi obriadovosti [Objectives of Ritual Ceremonies and Determining the Nature of the Episodes in the Structure of the Cycle of National Wedding Ceremonies], in «Mystetstvoznavchi zapysky», 2019, Vyp. 35, s. 22–27.
O.O. Kukharenko, Rol i mistse mediatsii v strukturno-funktsionalnykh doslidzhenniakh tsyklu ukrainskykh vesilnykh obriadiv [The Role and Place of Mediation in the Structural and Functional Studies of the Cycle of Ukrainian Wedding Ceremonies], in «Kultura Ukrainy», 2018, Vyp. 62, s. 150–159.
O.O. Kukharenko, Statusy holovnykh diiovykh osib ukrainskykh vesilnykh obriadiv [Statuses of the Main Actors of Ukrainian Wedding Ceremonies], in «Etnichna istoriia narodiv Yevropy», 2021, Vyp. 65, s. 41–48.
O.O. Kukharenko, Systema symvoliv rodiuchosti v obriadovykh pisniakh komory y perezvy [The System of Symbols of Fertility in the Ceremonial Songs of the Barn and the Perezva], in «Visnyk Mariupolskoho derzhavnoho universytetu», 2016, Vyp. 11, s. 96–102.
K. Levi-Stros, Strukturnaya antropologiya [Structural Anthropology], Moskva, Glav. red. vostochnoj literatury, 1985, 536 s.
M.S. Maierchyk, Rytual i tilo. Strukturno-semantychnyi analiz ukrainskykh obriadiv rodynnoho tsyklu [Ritual and Body. Structural and Semantic Analysis of Ukrainian Rites of the Family Cycle], Kyiv, Krytyka, 2011, 324 s.
I.I. Nesen, Vesilnyi rytual Tsentralnoho Polissia: tradytsiina struktura ta reliktovi formy (seredyna XIX – XX st.) [Wedding Ritual of Central Polesia: Traditional Structure and Relict Forms (Middle of the 19 – 20th Centuries)], Kyiv, Tsentr zakhystu kult. spadshchyny, 2005, 258 s.
Povist vremianykh lit: litopys (za Ipatskym spyskom) [The Tale of Bygone Years: Chronicle (According to the Hypatian Codex)], Kyiv, Rad. pysmennyk, 1990, 558 s.
V.Ya. Propp, Morfologiya volshebnoj skazki [Morphology of a Fairy Tale], Moskva, Labirint, 2001, 152 s.