Folklore “Historical” Narrative Within the Context of Landscape Mythology (Russian-Belarusian Borderlands)

The article presents a narrative and structural analysis of texts from the collection of the State Archive of the Smolensk region reflecting folk beliefs about cult trees. These records can be regarded as “historical” narratives in which trees, being objects of folk veneration (ritual practices aimed at healing) and superstition (“treasure under a tree” legend), are at the same time associated with historical or quasi-historical events (adventures of local robbers, the 1812 Patriotic War). Stories about unusual trees demonstrate a close connection with the mythology of space, and the natural objects themselves are peculiar markers for the collective memory, conveying knowledge about the past with reliance on the local landscape.