Funeral and Remembrance Folk Customs of Pruziany Region Based on 2019 year’s Field Data from Pruzhiany Region of Brest Province of Belorussia

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2020-49-1/163-191

Abstract

The article presents the collection of folk narratives conscierning grave customs gathered during recent field research in western Polesye (Brest province). Along with the remarkable preservation of the ancient lore in the said region innovations were founded (for exp. new for this part spring remembrance date – “Radounitsa”), mechanisms of disintegration of tradition are highlighted, which are often due to extinction of subjects and practices (exp. craft of weaving, birth at home) or interference from the Church prohibiting a lot from the pagan remembrance and funeral practices, semantic parallels with another Slavic areas are outlined (exp. the connection between “rusalka” (female mythological creature), dew and fertility in Polesye and Bulgaria). Also the paper includes some motives from the other parts of tradition, for example, demonology, lunar time measure, occasional rites (rain invocation), festivals etc.

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