This article studies folk demonological beliefs that are widespread on the territory of Polesye, located on the border of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. The traditional culture of this region is of great interest for ethnologists of the broadest profile, since it preserves many archaic elements of all-Slavic significance. In the first part of the study, two blocks of the regional mythological system were considered: spirits of domestic and natural loci, and a group of characters originated from the souls of deceased. The second part of the work considers two groups of mythological characters: spirits not assigned to a specific locus (the devil, spirits of diseases, personification of death, characters for intimidation of children) and different categories of living people endowed with supernatural knowledge (witches, sorcerers, healers, werewolves). The study is based on data from the East-Slavic demonology.
{"title":"Народная демонология Полесья в контексте восточнославянских традиционных верований","authors":"Ľudmila N. Vinogradova","doi":"10.3986/sms20212410","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20212410","url":null,"abstract":"This article studies folk demonological beliefs that are widespread on the territory of Polesye, located on the border of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. The traditional culture of this region is of great interest for ethnologists of the broadest profile, since it preserves many archaic elements of all-Slavic significance. In the first part of the study, two blocks of the regional mythological system were considered: spirits of domestic and natural loci, and a group of characters originated from the souls of deceased. The second part of the work considers two groups of mythological characters: spirits not assigned to a specific locus (the devil, spirits of diseases, personification of death, characters for intimidation of children) and different categories of living people endowed with supernatural knowledge (witches, sorcerers, healers, werewolves). The study is based on data from the East-Slavic demonology.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45884437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The belief that only written records of ancient Greek science are relevant to our knowledge of past science and that there is nothing outside of that knowledge that is not contained in written sources is misleading. The ancient Slavs were able to develop their knowledge of mathematics and astronomy independently of ancient Greek science. Neglecting the knowledge of the ancient Slavs in comparing it with that of the ancient Greeks is misguided and cannot lead to useful findings.
{"title":"Tudi stari Slovani so poznali gnomone","authors":"Andrej Pleterski","doi":"10.3986/sms20212413","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20212413","url":null,"abstract":"The belief that only written records of ancient Greek science are relevant to our knowledge of past science and that there is nothing outside of that knowledge that is not contained in written sources is misleading. The ancient Slavs were able to develop their knowledge of mathematics and astronomy independently of ancient Greek science. Neglecting the knowledge of the ancient Slavs in comparing it with that of the ancient Greeks is misguided and cannot lead to useful findings.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44441579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nowadays, interest in phytotherapy and ethnobotanics has increased. This phenomenon was the reason for the cultural project “Ethnopantry of Dobrzyń Land”. During the event, the participants explored the knowledge of herbal medicine and ethnography, including superstitions, beliefs, and the role of plants in folklore texts, while simultaneously providing information about stories, practices, and methods of using herbs in their place of residence, among the older generation or relying on their own experiences. The transfer of knowledge between the instructors and participants resulted in a large amount of folklore material. The article is an attempt to summarise the collected data and to analyse them from an anthropological perspective.
{"title":"Plants, Women, Magic. Contemporary Polish (Kuyavian) Folklore Based on Herbal Medicine","authors":"Sara Orzechowska","doi":"10.3986/sms20212408","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20212408","url":null,"abstract":"Nowadays, interest in phytotherapy and ethnobotanics has increased. This phenomenon was the reason for the cultural project “Ethnopantry of Dobrzyń Land”. During the event, the participants explored the knowledge of herbal medicine and ethnography, including superstitions, beliefs, and the role of plants in folklore texts, while simultaneously providing information about stories, practices, and methods of using herbs in their place of residence, among the older generation or relying on their own experiences. The transfer of knowledge between the instructors and participants resulted in a large amount of folklore material. The article is an attempt to summarise the collected data and to analyse them from an anthropological perspective.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41367154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In these paired years (2020–2021), the whole world has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the emergence of different presumptions, alternative facts, and fake news. Among those, the most dominant news was about bats as the culprits of expansion of the virus and, indirectly, the Chinese diet as the root cause. However, there is no proof that the links in the triangle of bat-virus-human are valid; and the source of infection has not been identified. In addition to bats, these viruses can be found in other animals, such as camels, pangolins, and humans. Therefore, individual scientists are reversing the situation by presenting the possibility of transmitting the virus from humans to animals. Nevertheless, it has become ultimately ‘acceptable’ to demonise the bat. In this respect, various authors remind us of certain historical contexts of notions and perceptions of the bats, as well as the similarities and differences of those perceptions during the pandemic, referring to it mainly in the context of Croatia and the world. In the end, the article’s conclusion is that the story about the bats is, actually, a great indicator of the representations of Otherness and the strengthening of a binary and hierarchical division of ‘us’ and ‘them’.
{"title":"What is It Like To Be a Bat in the Time of Covid-19, or How Many Pandemics Could We Have?","authors":"Goran Đurđević, Suzana Marjanić","doi":"10.3986/sms20212404","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20212404","url":null,"abstract":"In these paired years (2020–2021), the whole world has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the emergence of different presumptions, alternative facts, and fake news. Among those, the most dominant news was about bats as the culprits of expansion of the virus and, indirectly, the Chinese diet as the root cause. However, there is no proof that the links in the triangle of bat-virus-human are valid; and the source of infection has not been identified. In addition to bats, these viruses can be found in other animals, such as camels, pangolins, and humans. Therefore, individual scientists are reversing the situation by presenting the possibility of transmitting the virus from humans to animals. Nevertheless, it has become ultimately ‘acceptable’ to demonise the bat. In this respect, various authors remind us of certain historical contexts of notions and perceptions of the bats, as well as the similarities and differences of those perceptions during the pandemic, referring to it mainly in the context of Croatia and the world. In the end, the article’s conclusion is that the story about the bats is, actually, a great indicator of the representations of Otherness and the strengthening of a binary and hierarchical division of ‘us’ and ‘them’.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49603159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The present article proposes a comparative approach to Argentinean and Slovenian tales that share thematic features with ATU 326 (“The youth who wanted to learn what fear is”) from the standpoint of the fictional construction of verbal landscapes. The comparison is oriented to identifying similar narrative patterns dealing not only with thematic tale types but also with structural and stylistic features, along with changing details. The thematic, structural, and stylistic features common to different versions conform to a narrative matrix, which acts as a pretext to be recreated in diverse narrative contexts. The changing details give new meanings to universal pattern connected with the cultural heritage of different local contexts, such as the Argentinean and the Slovenian ones.
{"title":"The “Cairé” and “The Ghost of Komat” Textual Landscapes and Cultural Heritage in Argentinean and Slovenian Folktales","authors":"Maria Palleiro","doi":"10.3986/sms20212405","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20212405","url":null,"abstract":"The present article proposes a comparative approach to Argentinean and Slovenian tales that share thematic features with ATU 326 (“The youth who wanted to learn what fear is”) from the standpoint of the fictional construction of verbal landscapes. The comparison is oriented to identifying similar narrative patterns dealing not only with thematic tale types but also with structural and stylistic features, along with changing details. The thematic, structural, and stylistic features common to different versions conform to a narrative matrix, which acts as a pretext to be recreated in diverse narrative contexts. The changing details give new meanings to universal pattern connected with the cultural heritage of different local contexts, such as the Argentinean and the Slovenian ones.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44177712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article investigates the anthropological issues of the “she-bear” rite, named arktéia, dedicated to the goddess Artemis in her sanctuary of Brauron (Attica), by young girls, before the celebration of their marriage. Kore Phrasiklieia is taken here as a case study with respect to its decoration, suggesting the presence of several attributes connected to the “brauronian” symbolics. There are three chapters: a history of the discovery of the statue, an analysis of its attributes, and an anthropological interpretation of the cult. The comparison between archaeological evidence, historical data, and ancient sources leads to the conclusion that Phrasikleia had performed the arktéia rite as a “she-bear”, but she died before she was married.
{"title":"Κόρε κεκλέσομαι αιεί. Uno sguardo sull’arktéia attraverso Phrasikleia","authors":"Martina Olcese","doi":"10.3986/sms20212412","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20212412","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates the anthropological issues of the “she-bear” rite, named arktéia, dedicated to the goddess Artemis in her sanctuary of Brauron (Attica), by young girls, before the celebration of their marriage. Kore Phrasiklieia is taken here as a case study with respect to its decoration, suggesting the presence of several attributes connected to the “brauronian” symbolics. There are three chapters: a history of the discovery of the statue, an analysis of its attributes, and an anthropological interpretation of the cult. The comparison between archaeological evidence, historical data, and ancient sources leads to the conclusion that Phrasikleia had performed the arktéia rite as a “she-bear”, but she died before she was married.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42465517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The article focuses on short folklore forms recorded in the Gorica Hills (slv. Goriška brda) in the 20th and early 21st centuries, which can be considered as non-linguistic or non-ethnically bound folklore features. The language of these folklore forms is a mixture of the dialectal forms of the contact languages (Slovene, Italian, partly Friulian). Using the examples of the collected material, we analyse in which genres of the short folklore forms multilingualism appears, what function it has and how the characteristics of the territory are reflected in them. We compare sources or parallels in published Slovenian and Italian material, and analyse the material in the context of research on literary children’s folklore in Slovenia. The study of bilingual and multilingual folklore forms from Goriška brda focuses on the question of whether and why multilingualism is best preserved in short folklore forms and especially in children’s folklore.
{"title":"Večjezične kratke folklorne oblike: primeri iz Goriških brd","authors":"Marjeta Pisk, Katarina Šrimpf Vendramin","doi":"10.3986/sms20212409","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20212409","url":null,"abstract":"The article focuses on short folklore forms recorded in the Gorica Hills (slv. Goriška brda) in the 20th and early 21st centuries, which can be considered as non-linguistic or non-ethnically bound folklore features. The language of these folklore forms is a mixture of the dialectal forms of the contact languages (Slovene, Italian, partly Friulian). Using the examples of the collected material, we analyse in which genres of the short folklore forms multilingualism appears, what function it has and how the characteristics of the territory are reflected in them. We compare sources or parallels in published Slovenian and Italian material, and analyse the material in the context of research on literary children’s folklore in Slovenia. The study of bilingual and multilingual folklore forms from Goriška brda focuses on the question of whether and why multilingualism is best preserved in short folklore forms and especially in children’s folklore.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44386707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alternative Slavic fantasy is defined here as fantastika (speculative fiction) created by English-language writers on the basis of real or assumed Slavic folklore, separate from Slavic fantasy per se. The focus of the current paper is the logic of interaction between Slavic folk plots and characters with Russian and Ukrainian history. The first part addresses Medieval Rus in Peter Morwood’s and Katherine Arden’s trilogies. The second part, which addresses Russia and Ukraine in the 19th-20th centuries will be published in the next issue of the journal.
{"title":"Rus, Russia, and Ukraine in Alternative Slavic Fantasy by English-Language Writers","authors":"Larisa Fialkova","doi":"10.3986/sms20212403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20212403","url":null,"abstract":"Alternative Slavic fantasy is defined here as fantastika (speculative fiction) created by English-language writers on the basis of real or assumed Slavic folklore, separate from Slavic fantasy per se. The focus of the current paper is the logic of interaction between Slavic folk plots and characters with Russian and Ukrainian history. The first part addresses Medieval Rus in Peter Morwood’s and Katherine Arden’s trilogies. The second part, which addresses Russia and Ukraine in the 19th-20th centuries will be published in the next issue of the journal.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47392981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The author analyzes the field materials collected during her expedition to the Southern Podlasie (Łuków-Siedlce-Garwolin region in Poland) in 2017 and sheds light on the local version of the supernatural being under the name “zmora”. In this territory zmora is endowed with a function (not typical in other Polish local traditions) to tangle and braid the horses’ manes. Meanwhile the informants put aside zmora’s traditional function (that is to suffocate a sleeping person) or do not mention it at all. Zmora from Southern Podlasie is regarded in a wider Polish and all-Slavic perspective. Such parameters as the supernatural being’s name, its origin, appearance, behavior, time of the activity, its functions as well as the amulets and preventive measures used against this evil spirit are examined. The author concludes that in the studied Slavic archaic area zmora has partially taken over the functions of the house spirits, that is reflected in the entire fragment of the mythological characters’ system associated linked to the domestic and economic (cattle-breeding) sphere.
{"title":"Мифологический персонаж (з)мора / мара в традиции Южного Подлясья в польской и общеславянской перспективе","authors":"Marija V. Jasinskaja","doi":"10.3986/sms20212406","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3986/sms20212406","url":null,"abstract":"The author analyzes the field materials collected during her expedition to the Southern Podlasie (Łuków-Siedlce-Garwolin region in Poland) in 2017 and sheds light on the local version of the supernatural being under the name “zmora”. In this territory zmora is endowed with a function (not typical in other Polish local traditions) to tangle and braid the horses’ manes. Meanwhile the informants put aside zmora’s traditional function (that is to suffocate a sleeping person) or do not mention it at all. Zmora from Southern Podlasie is regarded in a wider Polish and all-Slavic perspective. Such parameters as the supernatural being’s name, its origin, appearance, behavior, time of the activity, its functions as well as the amulets and preventive measures used against this evil spirit are examined. The author concludes that in the studied Slavic archaic area zmora has partially taken over the functions of the house spirits, that is reflected in the entire fragment of the mythological characters’ system associated linked to the domestic and economic (cattle-breeding) sphere.","PeriodicalId":37944,"journal":{"name":"Studia Mythologica Slavica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49659896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}