Title of the article:

RUSSIAN-BELARUSIAN FOLK SPIRITUAL CULTURE OF THE BRYANSK-GOMEL BORDERLAND

Author(s):

Sergei M. Pronchenko

Information about the author/authors

Sergei M. Pronchenko — PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Branch of Bryansk State Academician I. G. Petrovski University in Novozybkov, Sovetskaya St., 9, 243020 Novozybkov, Bryansk Region, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0382-3059
E-mail: s.m.pronchenko@yandex.ru

Section

Theory and history of culture

Year

2022

Volume

Vol. 66

Pages

pp. 8–29

Received

August 18, 2021

Approved after reviewing

March 15, 2022

Date of publication

December 28, 2022

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2022-66-8-29

Index UDK

008+392

Index BBK

71.05+63.5

Abstract

The publication focuses on the unique local traditions of the folk spiritual culture of the Russian-Belarusian Bryansk-Gomel borderland. They include the features associated with the calendar (Christmas, Annunciation, Easter, Ascension), rituals of the life cycle, beliefs, folk medicine and magic. The idea of the modern linguocultural situation in the south-western regions of the Bryansk region bordering on Belarus is enriched by considering the units of the language of spiritual culture, many of which also denote ritual artifacts. The linguoculturological material of the paper is compared with other studies of the traditional culture of the Bryansk-Gomel borderlands, regional dictionaries, the Dictionary of Russian Folk Dialects, and the compendium Slavic Antiquities. The characteristic-local traditions considered (distinguishing schedrovkas by gender — for the owner and hostess, the image of the “goat”, inviting frost, cooking three types of kutia, the rituals of “driving an arrow”, “candle”, “parting of the mermaid”, bylichki about well-wishers, the widespread use of healers and others) are also represented in the Belarusian traditional culture of the Gomel Polissya and the Dnieper region, which confirms the common cultural past and present of the Bryansk and Gomel regions.

Keywords

Bryansk-Gomel-Chernigov ethnocontact region, southwestern regions of the Bryansk region, East Slavic folk spiritual culture, regional forms of traditional culture, ritual discourse, units (terms) of the language of spiritual culture, ritual artifacts, naive consciousness, ritual practice, mythological representations.

References

1 Agapkina T. A. Molchanie [Silence]. In: Slavianskie drevnosti: Etnolingvisticheskii slovar': v 5 t. [Slavic Antiquities: Ethnolinguistic Dictionary: in 5 Vols.], ed. by N. I. Tolstoi. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia Publ., 2004, vol. 3, pp. 292–296. (In Russian)

2 Boganeva E. M. “Nevidimtsy”: siuzhetnye versii (belorusskie derevni Negliubka i Kurbaki) [“Invisible men”: plot versions (Belarusian Villages Neglyubka and Kurbaki) ]. Zhivaia starina, 2017, no 4, pp. 16–20. (In Russian)

3 Brianskii oblastnoi slovar' [Bryansk Regional Dictionary], ed. by N. I. Kurganskaia. Briansk, RIO Bryansk State University Publ., 2011. 361 p. (In Russian)

4 Gura A. V. Simvolika zhivotnykh v slavianskoi narodnoi traditsii [Animal Symbolism in the Slavic Folk Tradition]. Moscow, Indrik Publ., 1997. 912 p. (In Russian)

5 Komarova V. A. “Grianaia” nedelia v Zlynkovskom raione: zaprety i predpisaniia [“Gryanaya” Week in the Zlynkovsky District: Prohibitions and Regulations]. Zhivaia starina, 2017, no 4, pp. 6–9. (In Russian)

6 Kosich M. N. Litviny-belorusy Chernigovskoi gubernii, ikh byt i pesni [Lithuanian-Belarusian Chernihiv Province, their Life and Songs]. St. Petersburg, Tipografiia kniazia V. P. Meshcherskogo Publ., 1902. 151 p. (In Russian)

7 Lapatsin G. “Іkona zvalas' Sviachoi...”. Abrad “Sviacha” u prastory tradytsyinai kul'tury Gomel'shchyny [“The Icon was Called a Candle...”. The Rite “Candle” in the Space of the Traditional Culture of the Gomel Region]. Gomel', Bark Publ., 2013. 116 p. (In Belorussian)

8 Lopatin G. I. “Liudzei zha niavidzimykh stol'ki, skol'ki vidzimykh”. Belorusskie mifologicheskie verovaniia v “dobrokhozhikh” [“There are as Many Invisible People as there are Visible ones”. Belarusian Mythological Beliefs in the “Do-gooders”]. Zhivaia starina, 2005, no 3, pp. 34–37. (In Russian)

9 Plotnikova A. A. Pokoinitskie predmety [Morturary Objects]. In: Slavianskie drevnosti: Etnolingvisticheskii slovar': v 5 t. [Slavic Antiquities: Ethnolinguistic Dictionary: in 5 Vols.], ed. by N. I. Tolstoi. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia Publ., 2009, vol. 4, pp. 124–127. (In Russian)

10 Propp V. Ia. Russkie agrarnye prazdniki: Opyt istoriko-etnograficheskogo issledovaniia [Russian Agrarian Holidays: Experience of Historical and Ethnographic Research]. St. Petersburg, Terra-Azbuka Publ., 1995. 176 p. (In Russian)

11 P'iankova K. V., Sedakova I. A. Sol' [Salt]. In: Slavianskie drevnosti: Etnolingvisticheskii slovar': v 5 t. [Slavic Antiquities: Ethnolinguistic Dictionary: in 5 Vols.], ed. by N. I. Tolstoi. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia Publ., 2012, vol. 5, pp. 113–119. (In Russian)

12 Rastorguev P. A. Seversko-belorusskii govor: Issledovanie v oblasti dialektologii i istorii belorusskikh govorov [Seversky-Belorussian Dialect: A Study in the Field of Dialectology and History of Belarusian Dialects]. Leningrad, Institut belorusskoi kul'tury Publ., 1927. 224 p. (In Russian)

13 Rastorguev P. A. Slovar' narodnykh govorov Zapadnoi Brianshchiny: Materialy dlia istorii slovarnogo sostava govorov [Dictionary of Folk Dialects of the Western Bryansk Region: Materials for the History of the Vocabulary of Dialects], ed. by E. M. Romanovich. Minsk, Nauka i tekhnika Publ., 1973. 295 p. (In Russian)

14 Slovar' russkikh narodnykh govorov [Dictionary of Russian Folk Dialects], ed. by F. P. Filina, F. P. Sorokoletova. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1969. Vol. 4. 357 p. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 1999. Vol. 33. 362 p. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2013. Vol. 46. 350 p. (In Russian)

15 Starodubets S. N., Belugina O. V. Osobennosti funktsionirovaniia obriada “Provody rusalki” na territorii briansko-gomel'skogo pogranich'ia [Features of the Functioning of the Rite “Farewell of the Mermaid” on the Territory of the Bryansk-Gomel Border Region]. Vestnik slavianskikh kul'tur, 2016, vol. 42, pp. 90–98. (In Russian)

16 Ternovskaia O. A. Ambar [Barn]. Slavianskie drevnosti: Etnolingvisticheskii slovar': v 5 t. [Slavic Antiquities: Ethnolinguistic Dictionary: in 5 Vols.], ed. by N. I. Tolstoi. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia Publ., 1995, vol. 1, pp. 104–105. (In Russian)

17 Tolstaia S. M. Polesskii narodnyi kalendar' [Polessky Folk Calendar]. Moscow, Indrik Publ., 2005. 600 p. (In Russian)

18 Tolstoi N. I. Iazyk i narodnaia kul'tura. [Language and folk culture]. In: Ocherki po slavianskoi mifologii i etnolingvistike [Language and Popular Culture. Essays on Slavic Mythology and Ethnolinguistics]. Moscow, Indrik Publ., 1995. 512 p. (In Russian)

19 Tradytsyinaia mastatskaia kul'tura belarusau: u 6 t., u 2 kn. [Traditional Artistic Culture of Belarusians: in 6 Vols., in 2 books], ed. by T. B. Varfalameeva. Minsk, Vysheishaia shkola Publ., 2012–2013. Vol. 6: Gomel'skae Palesse i Padniaproue [Gomel Polesye and the Dnieper Region]. Book 1. 910 p. Book 2. 1231 p. (In Belorussian)

PDF-file

Download