Russian-Belarusian Folk Spiritual Culture of the Bryansk-Gomel Borderland

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.