by Mykola Musynka
Mykola Musynka (b. 1936), the Czechoslovak folklore specialist from
Kurov in the Bardejov district, wrote this nine-part series for
Carpatho-Rusyn American between 1983 and 1986 -- the magazine's own
introduction called it a rare opportunity to bring serious Carpatho-Rusyn
folklore scholarship to English-language readers. The series opens with
Musynka's own introduction, then follows the ritual year from Christmas
and New Year through Easter, the pastoral and summer feast days, and the
autumn harvest festival, before turning to the three great life-cycle
rites: birth and baptism, the wedding, and the funeral. "The Wedding" is
the longest and most detailed essay in the series. A separate, earlier
essay on the Carpatho-Rusyn wedding by Jerry Jumba, covering the same
subject from an independent perspective, appears elsewhere in this room.
Introducing Dr. Mykola Musynka
**FOLK CUSTOMS OF CARPATHO-RUSYNS **
Beginning with the present issue of the Carpatho-Rusyn American newsletter
[Summer 1983], we are privileged to offer our readers a series of articles
by the well-known Czechoslovak folklore specialist, Dr. Mykola Musinka.
Because of the dearth of information on Carpatho-Rusyn folklore available
in English, Dr. Musinka's contributions to the newsletter will be especially
valuable. We are initiating this series with a description about the folklorist-author
himself.
in Kurov, a Carpatho-Rusyn village in the Eastern Slovak district of Bardejov.
He attended high school in both Bardejov and Presov, and continued his
higher education in Prague in 1958, studying with the well-known professors
Pan'kevyc, Zilinsky, and Vrabcova. Under their direction, his interest
in Rusyn folklore of the Presov region (Prjasivscyna) deepened, and he
undertook his first fieldwork expeditions into the region at that time.
After completing his studies, Musinka worked for a short time as a high
school Russian language instructor. In 1960, he joined the newly-established
research department of the Ukrainian Philosophical Faculty of Safarik University
in Presov where he lectured on Ukrainian history and folklore. In 1963,
he became a graduate student at Charles University in Prague. From there
he was sent for further study in 1964-1966 to the University of Kiev in
the Soviet Union where he studied under Professor Hrycaj and to Moscow
University where he studied with the Russian folklorist Petr Bogatyrev,
himself a prolific scholar of Carpathian folklore.
At this time, Musinka carried out folklore research among Rusyns who
had resettled from the Presov region to the Rovno and Volyn Oblasts in
the western Ukraine. He was awarded the equivalent of an American doctorate
(Kandidatnauk) in 1967 for his thesis entitled Volodymyr Hnatjuk: Researcher
of Transcarpathian Folklore (Volodymyr Hnafjuk: doslidnyk fol'kloru Zakarpattja).
In 1975, this work was published as a separate volume by the Sevcenko Scientific
Society in Paris. Musinka has published numerous other works on Rusyn and
Ukrainian folklore of the Presov region, including the folklore anthology
entitled From the Depths of the Ages (Z hlybyny vikiv; 1967).
Musinka served as editor of the first four volumes of the scholarly
journal on Carpatho-Rusyn studies, the Naukovj zbirnyk, published by the
Museum of Ukrainian and Rusyn Culture in Svidnik. He likewise helped organize
several of the famous Svidnik annual festivals of folksong and folk dance.
In addition, he has published at least 200 scholarly articles and reviews,
mainly on folklore. Until 1971, he taught at the Philosophical Faculty
of Safarik University in Presov, and subsequently worked intensively in
Slovak scholarly institutions on Rusyn and Ukrainian folklore in the Presov
Region, Bohemia, and Moravia, as well as in Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia.
For his scholarly work and research from 1976 to 1979, Musinka was presented
the highest award of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In the last few years,
his articles have appeared in the Canadian and American press. One example
is an extensive chapter on the folk culture of Carpatho-Rusyns in the Presov
Region which he prepared for the Encyclopedia of the Lemkian Lands to be
published by Harvard University.
Dr. Musinka is a distinguished scholar whose expertise is much in demand.
He has long been familiar with the Carpatho-Rusyn American newsletter and
has expressed a strong desire to give of his time and energy so that Americans
of Carpatho-Rusyn ethnic background can come to know and understand better
their rich cultural heritage. As part of his first article in this issue,
Musinka provides a glimpse of some of the subjects he will cover in subsequent
installments. The information and insights he offers us cannot be found
elsewhere. Let us thank Dr. Musinka for his contribution to the newsletter.
The folk customs of the Carpatho-Rusyns evoked the interest of researchers
as early as the middle of the nineteenth century. The term Carpatho-Rusyn
refers here not only to the indigenous East Slavic population of the Presov
Region, Transcarpathia, and northern Romania (Marmaros county), but also
to those Rusyns who emigrated and settled in the Backa Vojvodina of present-day
Yugoslavia or Bohemia and Moravia of present-day western Czechoslovakia.
Scholarly interest became especially developed during the interwar period
when numerous descriptions of Rusyn folk customs appeared in articles and
books both in the homeland and abroad.
While socioeconomic changes in the life of the Carpatho-Rusyn population
after World War II caused a partial disappearance of these customs, many
of them have been retained to the present as the cultural heritage of past
generations. Virtually all the customs originally had magical functions
-- to safeguard crops, to extend the homestead, to insure health and prosperity,
and to defend against adverse supernatural forces. The origin of most of
the customs dates back to the earliest primitive stages in the development
of society, when man was incapable of interpreting natural phenomena and
was completely at their mercy. Long observations of sunlight, rain, and
wind on one hand, and the yield of crops on the other, led primitive man
to perceive a connection between them. Seeing that his prosperity depended
especially on those three natural factors, he came to understand them in
a personal way as forces that could either benefit or harm him. Naturally,
he tried to enter into contact with them and gain their favor. Hence the
rise of exorcising prayers addressed to the sun, rain, wind, and other
natural phenomena which gradually came to be understood as supernatural
forces or gods.
The greatest menace to primitive man was storms accompanied by hail,
thunder, and lightning, capable of destroying in a few minutes the results
of a hard year-long effort. Therefore it is not surprising that the god
of thunder and storms, Perun, was regarded by the early Eastern Slavs as
the most powerful of all gods. While the cult of Perun was widespread among
all Slavic peoples, it survived longest among the Carpatho-Rusyns. Even
today in many villages we find such topographical designations as ***Peruniv
verch ***(Perun's Hill), Perunova skala (Perun's Rock),
***Perunovy strily ***(Perun's Arrows), and so on. The saying ***Bodaj
t'a Perun zabil ***(May Perun kill you) is still regarded by the older
generation as one of the strongest curses.
Apart from Perun, the supreme god, early Slavs also believed in the
existence of a number of "lesser gods" dwelling in the house,
in the fields, in groves, forests, rivers, hollows, and elsewhere. They
"saw" them in their visions, they "met" them, especially
at night, or at least felt the impact of their activity. Even today the
older generation likes to tell tales and legends about encounters with
***straski ***(ghosts), such as Did'ko, Sceznyk, Smertka,
Vovkun, Mamuna, Mora, Rusalka, Vod'anyk, Lisovyk, Domovyk, Chovanec, Bohynka,
Mavka, Pokutnyk, Potopel'nyk, Povisel'nyk, and other demonological
beings. The exorcisms addressed to the supernatural beings gradually attained
a collective character and developed into a traditional custom repeated
at regular, usually annual, intervals. This led to the rise of a whole
system of folk rituals consisting of a number of activities ordered in
a particular hierarchy.
Virtually all these traditional rituals and customs known today originated
in the pre-Christian period. Christianity tried to eradicate these customs
from the life of the people and to replace them completely with its own
rituals, as attested in a number of communications and decrees issued by
church authorities that were aimed at subduing the pagan folk traditions.
It is interesting that some of the decrees come from as late as the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries. The relative ineffectualness of the church's
struggle against these traditions led to a certain amalgamation of pagan
and Christian religious conceptions. Thus the pagan ritual of winter solstice
was replaced by the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and the heathen
"welcome to spring" by the Resurrection. The god of thunder Perun
was superseded by the prophet Elias who ascended to heaven in a chariot
of fire; Ivan Kupalo by St. John the Baptist; and so on.
The people, however, were too steeped in their pagan tradition and did
not give it up even after the general adoption of Christianity. This led
to a kind of "double belief" (dvojevirje) which
lasted several centuries and is found in various forms even in the twentieth
century. Some of the customs of Carpatho-Rusyns were taken over with modifications
from neighboring peoples. The medieval European church mystery play, for
instance, gave rise to the folk Nativity play in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries; the Polish ***sopka ***was the inspiration for the Rusyn
vertep; the ancient Roman ***Rosalia ***for Whitsuntide.
Carpatho-Rusyns generally retained archaic elements in their folk customs
more than any other Slavic people or ethnic group. Still today there has
been a continuation of the old Christmas and Whitsun customs; the blessing
of Easter foods (paska); customs accompanying births, weddings,
and funerals; dancing around Maypoles; midsummernight fires. The degree
of the preservation of these and other folk customs differs from place
to place. They are best retained in peripheral areas, especially among
the easternmost and westernmost Carpatho-Rusyn areas, that is, among the
Hutsuls in the environs of Jasinja and the Lemkos in the Spis area of Eastern
Slovakia.
In time, the original! magical function of folk customs and rituals
gradually waned. Pagan rituals assumed a social or recreational function.
No one sees any longer in the painted Easter egg a fertility symbol addressed
to supernatural beings or to the souls of ancestors, but rather an effective
aesthetic artifact intended to please one's nearest friends and relatives.
Similarly, the leaps of young people across the midsummernight fires at
Ivanden: Kupala, ***Sobitky ***are
no longer looked upon as a magical act of purgation, but rather as a show
of courage and dexterity. Carnival or Mardi Gras masks no longer stand
for supernatural beings or the souls of ancestors, but rather contribute
to the merriment of the onlookers.
In the course of history, many folk customs have disappeared and others
are dying out before our eyes. However, We also find the reverse process
in the revival of some of the defunct rituals and customs and the establishment
of some new ones. This can be best illustrated by the example of the ceremony
of ***dozinky ***(harvest festival). In the original ceremony,
reapers wove a harvest wreath using the last ears of the harvested corn.
It was an offering to gods for a successful, abundant harvest. The ceremonial
harvest wreath was brought to a special place of offering, usually to a
statue of Perun or some other god, where it was left or burned. During
the feudal period when the land was owned by the aristocracy, reapers brought
the wreath to their master or a deputy farm manager who rewarded them for
their hard work with a treat (oldomas). This custom largely
disappeared after the abolition of serfdom, but it was retained at some
nobility-owned farms, as well as in the "lowlands" where a great
number of Rusyns were engaged in seasonal agricultural labor.
After World War II, when agriculture both in Transcarpathia and in the
Presov Region was collectivized, the harvest ceremony was restored in a
modified form in almost all villages. Now the reapers ceremoniously deliver
the harvest wreath, accompanied by both traditional and present-day harvest
songs, to the head of the collective farm (or the Agricultural Cooperative
Farm in Slovakia), and are duly rewarded with a treat. The government favors
this renewed custom, and in addition to the local harvest festivals there
are also harvest festivals on the district, regional, and national levels
in association with popular festivities and cultural programs.
In recent decades, a revival of defunct customs has been attempted by
an ever-growing number of village folklore groups. They are usually small
groups of lovers of folk traditions, both young and old, men and women,
who try to restore to their original form the defunct songs, dances, and
customs of their localities and to perform them publicly either for their
fellow villagers or at folklore festivals. We can thus speak of a second
life of authentic folklore. Various cultural and adult education establishments
sponsor this form of folk creative activity and propagate it especially
among the young people who often know these customs only from literature,
films, or from their elders' accounts. Thanks to the scenic presentation
of some of the customs, they tend to become gradually a part of everyday
life again. While in the 1950s and 1960s, wedding ceremonies and songs
were on the wane, in the 1970s, in localities with active folklore groups,
they were revived. Similarly, many villages have seen the comeback of ritual
Easter dances, customs connected with conscription into the army, carnival
parades of mummers. St. Nicholas Day festivities, and many others. Transcarpathia
in the Soviet Ukraine, for instance, has witnessed the return of Christmas
Eve carol singing.
At present we are also witnessing the rise of some new customs unknown
in the original folk tradition. These include the feast on St. Sylvester
Day and New Year's Eve parties; festivities connected with the annual international
Women's Day on March 8; festivities and customs linked with student graduation;
with silver, golden. and diamond wedding anniversaries; and with birthdays,
especially "round" birthdays at 50, 60, 70, and even 75 years
of age. New customs also include the civil ceremony of "welcoming
new-born children to life" and leaving for retirement; feasts connected
with the annual financial review at cooperative farms; "Father Frost"
(i.e., Father Christmas) festivities, and others.
Since socialism looks with disfavor on religious ceremonies and customs,
it attempts to replace them with civil ceremonies, drawing richly on elements
of folk tradition. For this purpose many local Soviets (or National Committees
in Slovakia) establish special parlors for civil ceremonies, often located
in historical buildings and castles with attractive furnishings, and they
appoint special committees which organize the above-mentioned civil ceremonies.
We see here an analogy to the "double belief" connected with
the earlier establishment of Christianity. In order to comply with the
requirements of the state, many parents attend the "civil baptism"
of their child, followed -- often secretly -- with a christening ceremony
in a church, either in compliance with their own convictions or with the
wishes of their elders or other relatives. Until the sixties, civil weddings
required for the purpose of official registration were largely a mere formality,
attended by all the members of the wedding. The civil ceremony is followed
by a church ceremony which, however, is ruled out for a certain category
of people such as state functionaries, career soldiers, policemen, as well
as the intelligentsia and students. As a result, the church ceremony for
these people is held only in the presence of two witnesses. A similar situation
also exists in connection with civil funerals and ceremonies for silver,
golden, and diamond wedding anniversaries.
At present, the archaic and original character of the customs of Carpatho-Rusyns
is attracting scholarly interest. Among researchers are members of scholarly
institutions from Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, L'viv, Prague, Brno, Bratislava,
and elsewhere. An International Committee for Research in the Folk Culture
of the Carpathian Region was established in 1960. It incorporates folklorists
and ethnographers of six countries and has a special section for the study
of folk customs. Research of the folk customs and ceremonies in the area
has also been pursued by a number of scholars from local museums and universities.
The folk customs of Carpatho-Rusyns are also often featured in films and
television programs.
We are also witnessing at this time a certain revival of interest among
American Carpatho-Rusyns in the traditional folk customs of their ancestors,
especially since the television serial Roots. In response to this growing
interest, I have written a series of articles for the Carpatho-Rusyn American
to acquaint my countrypeople in the New World with the most significant
customs of the annual and family cycles in the lives of Carpatho-Rusyns.
I will highlight Rusyn folk customs connected with Christmas and the New
Year, as well as with spring -- Easter, turning cattle out to graze, the
first tillage; with summer -- Ivanden: Whitsun; with fall -- the harvest
festival, church festivities; with winter -- threshing corn, pig butchering;
and others. Among family customs. I also wish to acquaint readers with
customs connected with the three paramount milestones in human life - birth,
marriage, and death.
I hope and believe that these articles will bring American Carpatho-Rusyns
nearer-to the rich cultural heritage of the homeland of their forebears.
Christmas and New Year
**FOLK CUSTOMS OF CARPATHO-RUSYNS: **
CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR
duplication or use is prohibited and in violation of international copyright
law.
The archaic calendars of the Eastern Slavs, including Carpatho-Rusyns
were neither stabilized nor unified. "New Year" usually began
in March or September, and years were counted from "the creation of
the universe" or some other hypothetical beginning. The acceptance
of Christianity from Byzantium led also to the acceptance of the Julian
calendar established by the Roman emperor Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. according
to which every fourth year was a leap year with 366 days, i.e., a year
in which February had 29 days. This date differed every year by 11 minutes
and 14 seconds in excess of the astronomic calendar, and as a result in
excess of 1 day every 128 years. This fact led Pope Gregory XIII in 1582
to reform the Julian calendar by abolishing the leap years falling on each
respective 128th year. Since there were 10 such years preceding the pope's
reform, he ordered that initially October 4, 1582 be followed by October
15.
This reform was binding for the Roman Catholic Church, but other churches,
including the Orthodox Church, either did not accept this reform, or did
so considerably later. The Gregorian reform was not accepted by the Greek
Catholic Church in western Ukraine or in Subcarpathian Rus' (Transcarpathia),
even after establishing its union with the Roman Catholic Church; nor was
it accepted at first by the newly founded Orthodox and Greek Catholic parishes
in the Americas, with the exception of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay
where the Gregorian calendar was proclaimed universally mandatory in 1939.
As a result, all traditional church holidays celebrated by members of both
the Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches "lagged behind" holidays
celebrated by Roman Catholics by 13 days. (Easter and other moveable feasts
are celebrated according to the lunar calendar.) Even though church authorities
in Transcarpathia, as well as in the United States and Canada, have today
no objections against the transfer to the Gregorian calendar, most parishes,
especially in the countryside, follow the traditional "old style"
calendar.
It is to be emphasized that until the twentieth century the official
calendar was virtually of no great significance in the everyday life of
Carpatho-Rusyns. The common folk marked years rather in terms of memorable
historical events (wars, natural disasters, epidemics), and months and
days according to the departure or arrival of migratory birds, the beginning
of agricultural seasons (koly jarci sijaly; koly zita zalyl when they sowed
the barley; when they harvested the rye), or according to Christian holidays
(na Matku Bizu; na Velykden' at the Feast of the Assumption; at Easter).
Until quite recently, it was common to find among the elderly that they
were not aware of the exact date of their birth. As a consequence, the
celebration of New Year is not connected with any particularly rich complex
of customs.
The most important New Year custom was the New Year's Day well-wishing.
From early in the morning, groups of about 3 to 5 boys visited their neighbors
and relatives, proceeding from the low-lying localities to those at the
top of the village (zeby gazdivstvo dohory islo / so that their homestead
would move up in the world), and they recited their well-wishing verse:
***Vincuju, vincuju na tot Novyj rik,
Zeby vam vyrosla psenycja I bib,
Snop pry snopi, kopa pry kopi
A vy, pan gazda, mezy snopkamy,
Jak jasnyj, Misjac mezy zirkamy.***
I wish for you this new year
A good crop of wheat and beans,
Sheaf after sheaf, stack after stack,
And that you, dear husbandman, stand among the stacks
Like a bright moon among the stars.
However, most of the wishes were more jocular:
***Vincuju, vincuju,
Stoska pid kominom cuju:
Dajte mi z n'oho pokostovaty,
Budu vam lipse vincovaty.***
I wish you all the best,
And if you let me taste
What I smell hiding under your chimney [the smoked meat there],
My wishes for you will be even better
Some other of these New Year wishes were "transplants" of
wishes from the Christmas period.
*Nativity players from the village of Kurov, near Bardejov, Presov
Region (photographed by the author, 1983). *
It is relevant to note in this connection that New Year's Day was generally
regarded as a holiday of servants, for it was on this day that their contracts
were either concluded or canceled. The servants came from the poorest parts
of society and were mainly orphans. Therefore, the orphan motif appears
frequently in New Year songs:
***Siroty, siroty tjazko bidujete,
Jak pride Novyj rik de sja podijete?
Chtora ma rodinu, ta pide dodomu,
A ja, nebozatko, nemam raz ku komu.***
Oh, you orphans, you live in great misery,
And where are you to go when the New Year comes?
Those with relatives will go home,
But I, a poor orphan, have nowhere to go
In the distant past, the beginning of a new year was identified with
the central event of the winter solstice, the Yuletide (Rirdvo, Hody).
It was a feast directed at the safeguarding of the new crop. Its original
magical function, connected with agriculture, is still prominent in many
customs today.
One of the ancient customs required that on Christmas Eve the husbandman
(gazda) nurse his fruit trees by bandaging them with straw
binders and treating them as living beings. The tree which did not bear
fruit was warned by the husbandman holding his axe: ***Jablin', jablin':
zarod' jabka; jak ne vrodys, vyrublju tja ***(Appletree, appletree,
you shall bear fruit, or else I will cut you down). It was believed that
such a tree would take the threat seriously and would start bearing fruit.
In another custom, the feed for hens and other poultry was put into
a hoop or a chain shaped into a closed circle with the belief that the
poultry would not then go astray into the fields. Cattle were chased across
a brook to prevent them from limping in the summer. They were further protected
from the supposed bad influence of witches by being fed thornbush hips
(sverbohuzkyi). Also, nothing in the house could be lent
out on that day so that good fortune would not leave the house. Linen could
not be hung around, for throughout the year it was usual to hang the skins
of dead cattle around in a similar manner. The windle (motovidlo),
an appliance for winding yarn, was to be left empty to prevent poverty
from "winding" around the house, while the distaff was to be
full so that the house would be full of prosperity, and so on.
Most magic customs were connected with Christmas Eve (Svjatyj
vecur, Korocun, Vilija). On that day the husbandman covered the
floor with straw. An unthreshed grain sheaf, usually oats (called in some
localities "Didko" or "Diduch"),
was placed on the honorable seat at the table, i.e., "into the corner"
under the icons. According to historical and ethnographic literature, in
the archaic Slavic homes one corner was reserved for a representation of
the pagan gods. Oats or straw were also used for decorating the festive
table on which there had to be seeds from all crops. In the spring these
very seeds were used in the first sowing. The oats and straw had a magical
function in pagan society: they were expected to secure plenty of fodder
and grain. Christianity provided another rationalization for the custom,
stressing the birth of Jesus on straw and oats, thus transforming the two
into symbols of that event. Also placed in the place of honor was the festive
bread (korocun, kracun) decorated with wintergreen or periwinkle
(barvinok) and various small figures. Prosperity was symbolized
by a "mountain" of bread at the end of the table. At the beginning
of the evening meal the husbandman hid behind this "mountain,"
asking: "Can you see me from behind the bread mountain?"
The children replied in a chorus: "We can't," after
which the husbandman concluded: "Let us wish you'll not see
me either in the spring from within the hay or in the summer from within
the wheat!"
The Dido character from a nativity play in the village of Certizne,
near Medzilaborce, Presov Region (photographed by the author, 1972).
When the first morning star was up, the whole family hurried to wash
in a cold brook. They believed that the bath had a magical purgative function
and that it would help them to maintain good health throughout the year.
The last to leave the brook was the husbandman's wife bringing with her
a pot of water into which the family put bits from each dish of the evening
meal in order to feed the cattle later.
After returning from the brook, the husbandman stated his good wishes
for the family: ***"abundant crops in the fields, new offspring
at home, expansion of the homestead, satisfaction from children, kindness
from the overlords, respect from fellows, as many heifers as there are
firs in the wood, as many bulls as there are beeches in the forest,"
***etc.
After a common prayer, candles were lit on the table and all took their
seats at the Christmas Eve table which no one could leave during the evening
meal. Under the table they Many magical superstitions were also connected
with other days of Christmas. It was generally believed that as of midnight
on Christ's nativity day water changes into wine and that at this hour
cattle can speak like people.
On Christmas morning it was customary to put coins, a symbol of wealth,
into water with which the morning wash was done, in order to "conjure
up" prosperity for the coming year. Moreover, the first visit on Christmas
day was paid to a neighbor living in a higher location, so that one's homestead
would get "higher" in the world, too. The Christmas straw was
burned in the garden on the third day, or wisps of this straw were used
as binders on fruit trees to ensure a good crop. During the post-Christmas
cleaning of the house, one of the daughters (usually naked so that the
various parasitic insects could not take hold of her clothes) used to exorcise
the insects in this incantation:
***Posota, chorota, blychy bloscici
Id'te ze vy z nasej chyzy do pan'skei svitlici
Tam jest vasa mati.
Ona vam bude jisty davaty.***
Bad luck, illness, fleas and vermin
Leave our house and go to the rich people
Your mother is there,
And she will feed you
At present, the Christmas customs are rather simplified. What has disappeared
are especially the magical rites aimed at improving the crops or ensuring
prosperity. Even though they may still be carried on here and there, their
function is largely entertaining.
Easter
**FOLK CUSTOMS OF THE CARPATHO-RUSYNS: **
EASTER
duplication or use is prohibited and in violation of international copyright
law.
Easter (Velykden') is the central holiday during the time
of the spring solstice. Celebrated by Christians as the holiday Of Jesus
Christ's resurrection, it nevertheless retains a number of elements of
originally pre-Christian pagan customs. Thus, for instance, the forty-day
period of Lent prior to the Easter festivities has its antecedent in the
heathen period of the "great fast." The Carpatho-Rusyns always
observed the fast very rigorously. During the whole period, no meat, eggs,
or milk products were eaten, and many elderly people also observed the
so-called "dry fast" twice a week -- on Wednesdays and Fridays.
This meant that they neither ate nor drank anything at all. Although "fasting
cures" are now strongly recommended by many contemporary physicians,
the original "great fast" had nothing to do with any health considerations.
In fact, the long period of abstention from certain foods was inevitable
in a situation where primitive man was unable to produce sufficient reserves
of foodstuffs. Knowing that the hard work connected with spring agricultural
activities would require sound nutrition, he provided for the spring by
radically reducing his diet at the end of winter. The "great fast"
was an appropriate means for doing just that. During this period, the peasants
used their special wooden utensils (djizky; geletky, putyry)
to preserve butter, cheese, brynola (sheep cheese), and sometimes also
meat, suet, pork fat, and bacon.
The period of the "great fast" was seen by primitive man as
the time of the final conflict between outgoing winter and incoming spring
(vesna), both conceived as personified creatures: Winter
was seen as an ugly old woman or a vicious old man whose intent it was
to retain power over the world at the expense of all living things; Spring
was seen as a beautiful young maiden who with the help of the supreme god,
the Sun, triumphs over the stratagems of Winter.
Winter was the symbol of death, Spring the symbol of life. This magical
symbolism is clearly reflected in Carpatho-Rusyn Easter customs. In many
Transcarpathian villages it was customary until quite recently to celebrate
the so-called Death Sunday two weeks before Easter during which the personified
Death (Morena, Marina, Smertka) was escorted out of the village.
Young girls and boys created a straw effigy of Death and dressed it in
old women's clothing. Singing cheerful songs, they carried it to a hill
behind the village, being careful not to step either into snow or mud,
for they believed that this could be ominous for the forthcoming crop.
Behind the village, the effigy was stripped of its rags and was either
drowned in a stream or burned. In some places it was customary to visit
neighbors with the effigy and collect offerings for an evening party. The
women accompanying the procession were in the habit of picking out pieces
of straw from the Death effigy which they later placed under brooding hens
to ensure that young chicks would be born healthy and sound.
In the beliefs of older generations of Rusyns, the decisive period of
struggle between the supernatural forces of good and evil fell within the
last week of the fast called Passion Week (Strastnyj tyzden').
On the first Sunday of this week known as Flower or Willow Sunday (Kvitna
or Verbova nedilja), it was usual in the churches to consecrate
pussy willows which were believed to contain magic power. At home the pussy
willows were kept in a place of honor near the icons all year long in the
conviction that this was the best insurance against fires, storms, destructive
winds, and other exigencies of nature. They were also used as a protection
against "unclean spirits" on such occasions as the birth of a
child and during the post-natal period; at baptisms and weddings; when
taking cattle to their first pasture, and so on. The consecrated pussy
willows were also important in folk medicine.
The key day for exorcizing "unclean spirits" was Green Thursday
or Zelenyj cetver; for on that day it was believed witches
(bosorkani) from far and wide held their "annual conclaves"
during which they chose their new principals, redistributed their domains,
and accepted "novices" into their ranks. There are still many
legends in practically all villages inspired by these midnight meetings
at places, such as Lysa hora (Bare Mountain), Corna
hora (Black Mountain), or Cortov verch (Devil's Hill).
These places were, of course, all imaginary, even though there are in the
Carpatho-Rusyn homeland mountains that bear the first two names.
Since Easter was a feast of the revival of nature, it was also customary
to "revive" the homesteads during the last week before Easter.
This included cleaning the house, stables, barns, and cellars; washing
kitchen utensils in the stream; polishing tables, benches, beds, and other
pieces of furniture; submitting cattle to magic rites; bathing and branding
sheep on Friday and Saturday, and many other customs. Thus, for instance,
it was usual on Good Friday to wear at least one new piece of clothing,
or else, it was believed, one ran the risk of being in tatters for the
whole year.
Good Friday required the most rigid fasting. Village boys used to walk
around on that day with wooden rattles for exorcizing "unclean spirits."
Also, from Thursday to Sunday a large wooden rattle placed in a church
tower or belfry was used instead of the bells in what was likewise believed
to be an exercise of magic power. The potential wicked deeds of witches
were forestalled by special markings on the doors of stables. The doors
were marked with the sign of the cross, and at night locked with harrows
hung on them with their teeth facing outwards so that the witch would hang
herself on them.
On Saturday paska was baked. This was a special kind of ritual bread
made of wheat flour and decorated with wintergreen and magic symbols, such
as the sun, stars, and pictures of animals. Usually one large paska was
baked (sometimes so large that it had to be axed out of the stove), as
well as several smaller ones, most often in a number corresponding to the
number of family members. A special kind of cheese - ***syrok ***or
zovta hrudka -- made of milk, flour, and eggs was also prepared.
On that day, housewives cooked ham, sausage (kolbasa), bacon,
eggs, the latter being specially painted for the occasion.
In this connection it is important to note that the egg, especially
the chicken's egg, has played an extraordinary role in the Easter customs
of Carpatho-Rusyns as well as of other Slavs. Containing an embryo of future
life, it was regarded as a symbol of life in general, and as such it was
believed to be a depository of unusual magical powers.
Moreover, the egg was considered the first "gift of nature,"
for hens would begin to lay them long before the spring earth had awakened
and had begun to bestow its gifts on man. Since, as was pointed out above,
the Carpatho-Rusyns could not eat eggs during the great fast, the number
of eggs gathered in that period became so large that it became a custom
to present the eggs to relatives and friends. To make it look more like
a gift, the egg was painted initially red (krasany farbanky),
and in the course of time various decorations (pysanky) were
added. The painted egg, as well as being a gift, was like all eggs believed
to have magical powers and as such it was widely used in folk magic. It
became a means of communication between living and non-living nature, between
this and the other world. Among other customs, eggs used to be plowed into
the earth during the first tillage to ensure rich crops; raw egg was rubbed
into the skin of cattle to preserve their health; and eggs were laid on
the graves of relatives to gain their favor. The various decorations gradually
attained the function of symbolic messages expressing the wishes of the
egg's owner or donor. Later on, however, the magic function of the ornamental
symbols came to be forgotten, and so today even the traditional egg-painters
have no explanation for the meaning of certain individual patterns.
***Pysanky ***traditions in the Carpatho-Rusyn homeland differ
from region to region. Decorations from the Presov Region and Bojkian Region
(central Transcarpathia) are relatively simple though very colorful. Some
of the most complex decorative patterns, however, come from the Hutsul
region in eastern Transcarpathia, and it is no overstatement to say that
they are genuine works of art. The most widespread technique in painting
eggs is the waxing technique. A decoration is drawn onto the egg with a
stylus or pin-top dipped in wax, and subsequently the egg is dropped into
a natural or artificial coloring liquid. Nowadays pysanky from the Carpatho-Rusyn
homeland both in the Soviet Union (Transcarpathia) and Czechoslovakia (Presov
Region) have become an important branch of handicraft production, and the
two countries export thousands of Carpathian painted eggs to Europe, America,
Asia, and Africa -- unfortunately, however, without specifying their regional
place of origin.
On Saturday night, the master of the household places the pasky the
painted eggs, and other foodstuffs into big baskets to be brought the following
morning to the church for consecration. In most villages, the Easter blessing
of ***pasky ***is held in the open air in front of the church.
In the more distant past, the ***pasky ***were consecrated in cemeteries
in order to emphasize the magical function of the act. Even today this
constitutes a grandiose celebration of the awakening of nature. The effect
is enhanced by the wide assortment of tantalizing foods, the beauty of
exquisitely-painted eggs and embroidered cloths, the fragrance of burning
candles, and finally by the stately sound of the choir of believers. While
integrated in the course of time into Christianity, this festive ritual
has many echoes of the ancient pagan past.
The consecration of paschal food (svjacenyna) actually
heralded the start of the major festivities which followed the forty days
of fasting. Everyone hurried home with the consecrated food in the belief
that the summercrop would then also be brought home as swiftly. ***Svjacenyna
***was the only food eaten on the first day of Easter, and every good
husband saw to it that not a single bit fell on the ground, for this would
be considered sinful. Even the shells of the Easter eggs were used. They
were ground into a powder and mixed with the first-sown grain in order
to ensure a higher crop.
With the feast completed, the girls would gather usually at the lower
end of the village to take part in Easter games. Hand in hand they went
up through the village. Singing various Easter songs and stopping outside
the church and cemetery or at a previously chosen meadow behind the village,
they paid homage with their songs and spring dances to the reawakening
life of nature.
These songs and games were closely connected with agricultural occupations
of the villagers. Some of them were immediate imitations of certain agricultural
activities, such as the sowing of poppy-seed or millet, the processing
of flax or hemp, and many others. Another frequent motif in these games
and songs is that of love, finding its reflection mostly in fixed dialogues
between boys and girls. In many of the songs and games there is also the
motif of a wife ransomed from captivity or serfdom. In one of these games
the "husband" offers to buy his wife back for a herd of cows,
a flock of sheep, and other gifts. However, the group of girls representing
the captors fails to agree with the offer. At last the "husband"
frees his "wife" by breaking the cordon of the girls and giving
his beloved a kiss. Another motif is connected with military matters. For
instance, in the game ***Voritci ***(Wickets) girls divide into
two "camps" exchanging the following dialogue:
**1. Pustyte nas, pustyte nas,
Vijnu vijnuvati! **
**2. Ne pustymo, ne pustymo
Mosty polamaty. **
**1a. Az my mosty polomymo
Kalynovi naklademo
Taj piniazi nadajemo
Prjac sobi jdemo.**
**2b. A nam sesi ne lomyte,
Kalynovi ne kladire,
Tai pinjazi ne davajte,
Prjac sobi jdyte!**
(1. Let us go to make war. 2. We won't let you go, for you'd break our
bridges. 1a. If we break the bridges, we'll build new ones of snowball
flowers and give you money and go away. 2a. Don't break the bridges, don't
build us new ones out of snowball flowers, and don't give us any money,
you'd better go away now!)
Each of the Easter games was accompanied by special group dances by
the girls (chorovody), thus adding an element of magic to
the entertainment. This impression is further enhanced by archaic elements
in the song melodies which are similar to those of wedding songs (ladkanky).
The ritual ***chorovody ***in their original form were on the wane
already before World War II, and even the names of their varieties were
virtually forgotten. They are now extinct almost everywhere except in some
of the most isolated localities. The memories of old-timers and the descriptions
of the old dances in folklore literature, however, have become a stimulus
for many folklore groups to try and revive this form of ancient folk dance
at folklore festivals.
The games and dances were usually ended by the tolling of church bells
which summoned the believers to evening services. The girls who ran the
quickest to the village were believed to be the most marriageable. In some
villages, the Easter ***chorovody ***ended by welcoming Spring
(Vesna). Spring was invariably represented by a young girl
holding a green twig (usually from a birch tree) and escorted into the
village with festive songs. Incidentally, the only participants in the
Easter games and dances were girls. Boys either stood by and watched or
played their own improvised games.
The second day of Easter was characterized by the custom of Easter dousing.
From early Monday morning, groups of young boys visited the houses of village
girls and splashed water on them as well as on the other women present
in the house, expressing wishes for their good health and well-being. Should
some of the girls resist the dousing or even hide, they were brought by
the boys to the local stream where they received an even more thorough
"watering." In fact, the girls were expected to reward their
dousers with a little treat and to present their loved ones with a painted
egg. On the next day the roles were reversed: girls doused boys and young
women doused their future husbands. Today, the Eastern dousing is practiced
even in towns, although as mere entertainment, and instead of water the
young dousers (now only the boys perform the ritual) use various perfumes.
As a reward, they usually receive painted eggs and candies, and sometimes
even small sums of money from their relatives. Though strictly secular
today, the custom of Easter dousing still bears the mark of the ancient
Rusyn belief in the sanctity of water as a source of all life. Its use
in the custom was therefore originally symbolic: it was to purify both
the body and soul and to ensure good health and vitality.
The completion of Easter festivities was followed by the beginning of
spring agricultural activities which were still symbolically connected
with Easter. Thus prior to the first plowing of the season the husbandman
smeared the throats of the draft animals with fat from the Easter basket
to make sure they remained healthy and strong, and he "planted"
an Easter egg in the first furrow to give the soil fertility. The ground
shells of Easter eggs and grain from the Christmas table served the same
purpose. Sowing them in the direction of the four cardinal points, the
husbandman would say ***Toto ptaskom; toto mysam; tot chrobackom; a
toto dyvynji, zeby ony s tym sja uspokojily a ostatnje na pokoju lysyly
***(This is for the bird; this is for the mice; this is for the worms
and this for animals of the forest; may it satisfy them and may they leave
the rest of the crop alone.) Even though there is a relatively wide-ranging
literature describing various manifestations of Carpatho-Rusyn Easter customs,
one still feels that there is a lack of a general theoretical approach
to these phenomena that would take into account their broader historical,
ethnographic, and national contexts. This is a pity, for these customs
most certainly deserve such analysis.
***Blessing Easter baskets among immigrant Carpatho-Rusyns living
in the village of Lesna, near Tachov in western Bohemia, Czechoslovakia.
Photograph by Mykola Musynka, Easter 1982. ***
The Pastoral Festivals: St. George's Day
**FOLK CUSTOMS OF CARPATHO-RUSYNS **
THE PASTORAL FESTIVALS: ST. GEORGE'S DAY
duplication or use is prohibited and in violation of international copyright
law.
In all Slavic and in many non-Slavic nations. St. George is regarded
as the patron saint of peasants (in fact. the original meaning of the Greek
Georgos and the Latinized Georgius is peasant). Since the most frequent
agricultural activity among the Carpatho-Rusyns was the breeding of cattle
and sheep, St. George was regarded mainly as the patron of breeders. The
celebration of St. George's Day on May 6th was marked by the bringing of
the cattle to pasture for the first time in the year, and the whole procedure
was accompanied by a number of magic rituals.
Among these rituals were the following: each cow was smeared with an
egg (usually an Easter egg) in order to assure that it put on weight; it
was sprinkled with holy water to ensure its good health; and it was fed
with bread, salt, and garlic (the symbols of health and fertility) so that
it multiply. A chain and a lock were put under the threshold of the shed
to "keep the cattle together"; and the cows were driven through
a fire behind the village to rid them of illnesses. Sometimes the cowherds
symbolically beat the cattle three times with a willow or hazel branch
to make the animals grow well; the horns of cows and oxen were decorated
with wreaths of wintergreen to ensure that the cattle had sufficient fodder:
or the cowherds ran three times around the whole herd with a burning Candlemas
candle in their hand or with incense produced from dried green leaves collected
on the last St. John's Day (June 24th) in order to drive all evil spirits
away from the cattle. The cowherds might also blow horns, ring bells, crack
their whips, or shoot in the air to repel witches and other demonic beings
believed to pester the cattle.
An extraordinarily great number of magic rituals used to be connected
with bringing sheep to the polonyna, or mountain pasture.
In most of these rituals the shepherds invoked the aid of St. George as
the protector of farm animals. There was a number of special magic formulas
aimed at the protection of sheep which were passed on from one generation
to another, and which were scrupulously kept secret by the husbandmen.
The knowledge of these formulas and other magical and veterinary practices
was held in high esteem as the hallmark of supreme command of the shepherd's
profession. Here is an example of one of these magic formulas collected
from Jan Poljanskyj, a resident of the village of Jakubany near Stara L'ubovna:
***Svatyj Georgiju.
Maju v tia nadiju.
Na tja upoveju,
Voz kluci od raju.
A zamkny nas kosar
I cilyj nas chotar
Pred vovkom ryskuscym
I zmijom plazuscym,
Pred nevcasnom zimom
I pekucym litom.
Pred bidom i psotom.
Pred planom chorotom
Pred panskom zljiscom
I ljudskom zavijscom.
Ochran nasy uvci,
Naj sa trimut v kupci,
Daj jim vodu zdravu,
Spust' rosu na travu,
Pasy na cilyj rik.
Zdravja na cilyj vik. Amin!***
St. George,
You are my hope.
I beg you,
Please take the keys from paradise
And lock up our fold,
And all our field
From the evil wolf,
From the creeping snake,
From early winter,
From blazing summer.
From misery and bad luck,
From pestering illness,
From ill moods of the overlords
And human envy.
Please protect our sheep,
So that they keep together,
Provide them with good water.
Drop dew on the grass.
Give us graze for the whole year.
And health for all time. Amen!
The magic rituals concerning sheep were sometimes connected with a special
dance called ovcij zdych, i.e., "the death of a sheep,"
which portrayed the gradual dying of a sheep during an epidemic.
When the flock of sheep was returned to the fold and when the symbolic
bonfire which was to burn until the end of the grazing season in late fall
was kindled by a "living flame" (fire made by rubbing wood against
wood), selected shepherds would arrange a rite called mira.
In the presence of the owner of the sheep they would milk each animal,
and according to the amount of milk thus gained, they made a contract with
the owner about the amount of cheese they were to deliver to him in the
course of the summer. An agreed amount was recorded by means of notches
made on a special stick (rovas or mira). The ceremony ended
with a feast which often developed into a real revelry in which all the
young people of the village participated. Recently there has been a symbolical
revival of this custom in Soviet Transcarpathia (Subcarpathian Rus') in
the form of festival dances called vyhin ovec v polonynu,
i.e., "bringing sheep to the mountain pasture."
Returning to St. George, it is important to recall the fact that he
was also believed to be the protector of forest animals. Subcarpathian
lore includes a number of legends about "St. George's sessions."
It was believed that St. George would convene all the animals and birds
of the forest on his holiday, and would allot to each of them its hunting
region and amount of prey. Should some of the animals or some of the demonic
beings of the forest disobey his rulings, St. George himself would ride
in armor on a white horse across every mountain, lowland, and polonyna,
and severely punish all transgressors. Incidentally, the image of St. George
clad in armor and riding on a white horse, is one of the most frequent
motifs appearing in folk icons. How seriously the punishing power of St.
George was taken in connection with his role as protector of forest animals
is attested by the fact that on St. George's Day experienced shepherds
even allowed wolves and other animals of prey to take away sheep from their
flock. It was feared that if the shepherds tried to prevent the beasts
from using this "privilege" bestowed on them by St. George, the
animals would be permitted by him to assault the flock throughout the whole
season.
The question arises why it should be precisely St. George who in the
eyes of the people became the patron saint of nature or, to put it in more
modern terms, the protector of ecological balance? According to Christian
legend, St. George, shortly before his death as a martyr in Nicomedia in
303 A.D.. visited the territory of present-day Libya where he overpowered
a dragon and saved an innocent girl from becoming the dragon's victim.
The parallel between this heroic feat and similar feats of fairytale heroes,
symbolizing the people's wish for victory of good over evil, certainly
contributed to the quick domestication of the St. George legend among Carpatho-Rusyns.
However, the pre-Christian pagan prototype remained and was reflected in
the fact that in the interpretation of the people St. George was stripped
of his Christian holiness and endowed with properties which were in keeping
with pre-Christian tradition. As a result, he was transformed into a protector
of nature and all living things in the broadest sense of the word. Thus,
among the Subcarpathian Hutsuls, St. George appears as "God's son"
who created "heaven and earth" and who releases snakes from the
earth, summons migratory birds, "drops" the morning dew on the
land, etc. This "dew of St. George" was believed to be endowed
with magical powers. Young girls would wash themselves with it in order
to be beautiful, and so would all adults -- to keep their health strong
("so that their heads and hands would not ache"). In some localities
the "dew of St. George" was collected into bottles and used as
a medicine.
St. George was also believed by Carpatho-Rusyns to be the protector
of crops. Therefore, until recently religious processions with banners
and icons (icons of St. George, of course, predominating) could be seen
on St. George's Day heading for the fields with prayers to the saint for
the protection of crops from hail, storms, fires, and other disasters.
One of the indicators of the popularity of St. George's Day and the importance
attached to the saint by the Rusyns is the fact that the Bojkos in Subcarpathian
Rus' used to combine the above-mentioned customs with customs transferred
to St. George's Day from other holidays such as Easter, Pentecost, and
St. Andrew's Day, which included dousing, decorating houses with green
branches, prophesying one's luck in love, and so on. It is also worth mentioning
in this connection that George (Juraj, Jura, Jurko, Georgij) used to be
the most widespread name among Carpatho-Rusyns. Even today, among Rusyns
repatriated in 1945 to Czechoslovakia (western Bohemia) from their settlements
in Romania, and whose adherence to old traditions was extraordinarily strong,
the name George is fairly predominant. The Orthodox Church register in
the village of Lesna (district of Tachov in Western Bohemia) records 30
Georges out of 99 boys born there in the period 1950-1954, though admittedly
the frequency of this name is now tending to fall.
Summer Festivals: St. John's Day
**FOLK CUSTOMS OF CARPATHO-RUSYNS **
SUMMER FESTIVALS: ST. JOHN'S DAY
duplication or use is prohibited and in violation of international copyright
law.
The summer months represented for the Carpatho-Rusyns the period of
the most intensive work in the fields, and accoldingly the customs of these
months were not as rich as the customs practiced in winter or spring. The
central festival of the summer period was connected with St. John's Day
which falls on June 24. The saint was variably called Jan, Ioan, or Kupala,
and the festival itself in some places had the name of Ivanden' -- John's
Day. It was a summer solstice festival, occurring when the sun reached
its highest point and resulting in the year's longest day and shortest
night. It was also the highest point for the crops, signaling the arrival
of the most important event in the peasant's year-round schedule - the
harvest.
It is perhaps no wonder that plants, and not only agricultural plants,
were believed to be endowed with magical powers exactly at this time of
the year. Women and girls would collect various herbs before sunrise, and
having had them consecrated in church, they would keep them in their households
until the next year. Most frequently the plants were hung near the icons,
and since they were believed to have magical powers, the herbs would be
used both for medical treatment and for magic rites. Sometimes the "St.
John herbs" (zilja) would be tied with a whip in the hope that the
symbolic gesture would help keep the cattle in the pasture together.
Of the many herbs used in Rusyn folk medicine the most - popular were
***ivanok ***(Hypericum perforatum), ***devjatsyl ***(Inula
Helenium), ***odylja ***(Valeriana officinalis), ***mjata ***(Menta
piporita), ***rumjanok ***(Matriria chamomila), and ***Nirobij
***(Hypericum perforatum). Even some poisonous herbs were used for
curative purposes, such as rostopast' (Chelidonium majus)
and ***nadragulja ***(Atropa belladona).
The eve of St. John's Day was a special day for the boys and girls of
the village. They would meet at a particular place, usually at a hill above
the village where they would make a bonfire, sing songs connected with
St. John's Day, dance, and generally make merry. This custom known as sobitka
was most widespread in the western part of the Presov Region. In the village
of Jakubany near the district town of Stara L'ubovna, the custom is alive
even today. The local boys dip torches in pitch, light them, and then walk
with them up to the nearest hills where they start several imposing bonfires.
Soon thereafter they are joined by village girls bringing each a bundle
of straw with which to feed the fire. The ring of bonfires surrounding
the village offers a truly unforgettable sight. In some villages in the
past the bonfires were used also for burning discarded objects such as
birch rods, baskets, straw binders, etc., in what was a symbolic purification
of old bad habits. Also burned in the bonfires were the last year's "St.
John's herbs." The sobitka celebrations in the village of Kruzl'ov
near Bardejov also included the interesting custom of rolling a burning
wheel wrapped in straw down to the village in a symbolic imitation of the
movement of the sun.
An indispensable part of the festivities were the special sobitka songs.
One of their most frequent themes were the requests addressed to St. John
for a good harvest. As one of the songs recorded in the village of Makovica
near Svidnik would have it:
***A ty Jane, svatyj Jane,
Osvet ze nam syre pole,
Syre pole i pasnycju.
Zyto, oves i psenicju.***
And you, John, St. John,
Bless our broad fields,
Broad fields and the pastures.
Rye, oats and wheat.
Another group of ***sobitka ***songs dealt with the joys and
sorrows linked with love. Often these songs would make public even the
more profane love secrets, such as the pregnancy of an unmarried girl,
like the following song recorded in the village of Becherov near Bardejov:
***A na Jana, na Jakuba,
Kapral'ova Marca hruba.
A od koho? Ta od toho
Od Jozka Lescysynoho.***
On St. John's Day, on St. James' Day
Mary Kapral' came with child.
By whom? By him
-- Joe Lescysyn.
Another related theme of the ***sobitka ***songs was the mutual
teasing between boys and girls. As research into the village customs of
the past attests, the St. John's festivities were one of those exceptional
occasions when a certain amount of sexual freedom was tolerated. The fact
that the freedom sometimes went too far found its expression also in the
lyrics of some of these songs recorded in the village of Kruzl'ov near
Bardejov:
***Na Ivana, na Kupala,
Hanca kabat zal'ustala,
Neznala ho vyrajbaty,
Musyla ho chlapcom daty.
Chlopcy kabat postelili,
A Hancu vinka zbavyly.***
On St. John's Day
Annie soiled her skirt
She did not know how to wash it.
And so gave it to the boys
They spread the skirt.
And stripped Annie of her virtue
Some of the other customs connected with St. John's Day were, nevertheless,
more serious in intent. After finishing the ***sobitka ***festivities,
for instance, girls would throw wreaths into the stream in order to learn
more about their future: the girl whose wreath was taken away the farthest
by the stream was expected to marry the soonest. In another custom, young
people would leap over fire with a double purpose: to purify their souls
symbolically, and to "draw" from the fire the strength needed
for the forthcoming harvest.
Among other things, the night of St. John's Day (like the nights of
some other important days) was also believed to be the night of witches
(bosorkanja). In many villages, legends were told about the
"annual meetings" of the witches at imaginary places like "Black
Mountain." "Bald Mountain," and "Devil's Hill."
These meetings were believed to serve the purpose of accepting new arrivals
into the witches' ranks and dividing the domains of their activity among
themselves. Yarns were spun about the orgies which were supposed to accompany
the meetings. According to legends many other strange things happened on
that night: treasures hidden in the earth came to light (almost literally,
because their appearance was first announced by fires bursting out on the
surface); ferns began to blossom; trees would start to speak among themselves
and move from place to place, etc.
After World War II, most customs connected with St. John's Day, especially
the lighting of bonfires, ceased to be practiced. Recently, however, some
of them have been revived on the initiative of folklore groups and with
the endorsement of various cultural organizations. This revived tradition
has, of course, a merely entertaining value, with the belief in the magic
implications of the customs no longer extant.
Autumn Festivals: The Harvest Festival and St. Andrew's Day
**FOLK CUSTOMS OF CARPATHO-RUSYNS **
AUTUMN FESTIVALS: THE HARVEST FESTIVAL AND ST. ANDREW'S
DAY
duplication or use is prohibited and in violation of international copyright
law.
The Subcarpathian region, a mountainous area, was a rather poor agricultural
one. Of cereals, only oats and barley produced satisfactory yields, whereas
rye and wheat fared far less well. Moreover, until 1848 when feudal servitude
was abolished, most of the land was owned by foreign nobility, especially
Hungarian. These nobles felt little obligation to their hard-working subjects.
The hardships of those times are reflected in numerous folk songs, such
as the following one recorded in the village of Kurov near Bardejov:
***Robyme na panskym
Od svitu do noci,
A nas pan povidat',
Ze nam n'it pomoci
od tiazkei roboty
Rucen'ky nam mlijut',
A panove sobi
Paljnocku pijut'.***
We work on our master's fields
From sun-up to sundown,
And our master says
It can't be helped.
Because of hard labor
Our hands are losing strength,
While the masters
Help themselves to a good drink.
Harvest time, nevertheless, was one of the most joyful times of the
year for the peasants. With it were connected many customs going back to
the distant past. Before starting to gather the crops, for instance, the
harvesters would roll on the ground hoping that the earth might grant them
the strength needed in the work. According to another explanation, it was
believed that the sheaves would "roll" into the barns in great
numbers. When the harvest was over, a shock of unreaped wheat, tied with
a ribbon or a straw binder, was left at the end of the field. This ***boroda
***or "beard," as it was called, was originally an offering
to the pagan field gods. Later the custom was aimed at "keeping the
mice in the field," i.e., preventing them from "visiting"
the barns. In another explanation, the ***boroda ***was to provide
a hiding place for quails.
The ears of grain gathered last were used by the peasants for making
a tidy sheaf which, decorated with field flowers, was ceremoniously brought
to the household. This sheaf (called ***dido ***or ***diduch
***-- grandfather) remained unthreshed, and during Christmas it was
held in an honorable place at the Christmas Eve table. Since it was believed
to have magic power, ears from the sheaf were woven into the wedding wreaths,
put into the beds of women giving birth to their first child, and in curing
diseases. The supposed procreative power of the sheaf led the peasants
to place ears from it under hens in hopes of getting more eggs from them,
and to put grains from it into the first seed, and so on.
With the harvesting finished, the harvesters would make a ceremonial
wreath and, singing cheerful songs of the season, bring it to their master
or the manager. After binding the wreath with a special ribbon, the master
or his deputy would invite the harvesters for a feast (obzinky oldomas).
After the abolition of feudal servitude, many Carpatho-Rusyns migrated
for the harvesting season to the Hungarian lowlands. Hired by wealthy farmers,
their reward was often merely free board and a small amount of grain to
take back home. In spite of the hard work among strangers and the meager
rewards, the harvesters did not fail to celebrate their ***obzinky ***even
here. Their songs on this occasion often reflected bath their complaints
and longing for their homes and dear ones in the mountains, as in the following
example recorded in the village of Mlynarovce near Svidnik:
***Vze zme dorobyly madjarsku robotu,
Cekaj nja, mamocko, domu na subotu.
Ne tak na subotu, jak na tu nedilju.
Rychtoj mi, mamocko, kosuljenku bilu .
Napys lem mi, pismo, jak ti davu znaty,
Bo ja z zalu umru, budes banuvaty.
Umru v Madjarscyni z tjazkoji roboty.
Zacnu v ponedilok, tjahnu do suboty.***
Now we have finished the Hungarian job.
Wait for me, mother, I'll come back home on Saturday,
And if not on Saturday, then on Sunday
Prepare for me, mother, my white shirt
Write me a letter, mother, if you get my message,
Or else I'll die from woe, and you'll be sad.
I'll die in Hungary of hard labor
Which I start on Monday, and end on Saturday
After World War I the ***obzinky ***customs became largely defunct.
However, after World War II they were revived in the newly-founded collective
farms both in Soviet Transcarpathia (Subcarpathian Rus') and in Czechoslovakia's
Presov region. At present, when the harvest is over, the harvesters will
ceremoniously bring an ***obzinky ***wreath to the head of the
***kolkhoz ***(or cooperative farm in Slovakia), singing humorous
both traditional and contemporary. The ***obzinky ***feast then
takes place in a local tavern or, in some places, in a local cultural center.
St. Andrew's Day (November 30) has always been one of the most popular
festivals in the Subcarpathian region, because it was celebrated as a "name
day" by many Rusyns, the name being a commonly-used one. But there
was another special reason for its popularity: St. Andrew was regarded
as a patron saint of love. Therefore, both the preceding eve and the day
itself led to the evolution of a number of customs. On the eve of the day,
village girls would walk around all the houses in which there lived an
Andrew (regardless of whether he was a small boy or an old man) and, standing
under the window, they would wish him good luck and health ***"na
mnohaja i blahaja l'ita" ***("for many happy years").
After singing their traditional song "Mnohaja lit"
("Many years to you"), they would in some villages demand an
"offering" from the honored person, as demonstrated in this song
from Vysna Polianka near Bardejov:
***Andriju, Andri'ju
Vynes nam porciju,
Bo jak nevyneses.
Djivky tja pobyjut'.
A vy ljude, znajte,
Nase pravo dajte,
Pravo nevelycke Lem korytce vivsa.
Bo jak nam nedate,
Ta pobanujete,
Vsytcy horci potrepeme,
Sto v polyci mate.***
Andrew, Andrew,
Bring us an offering,
For if you don't
The girls will beat you.
And you, people, understand
It's our right.
Not a big right, though:
We want only a trough of oats.
If you don't give it to us.
You will be sorry.
For we will smash all your pots
On the shelf.
Being thus duly "warned." the Andrew in question would bring
the girls the "offering" they asked for: oats, eggs, flour, and
other foodstuffs. The girls would then go to the tavern and exchange the
oats for brandy, and use the rest of the food for a feast in one of the
village houses. (Later on they would be joined by the boys and a musician,
and of course the revels would become more joyous.) The girl's party would
include also some jocular palm-reading and "magic" rites aimed
at finding out which of the girls would marry in the course of the year.
These rites had various forms: all the girls went to the stream and each
one gathered a number of small stones. These were then counted at the party:
an even number meant marriage, an odd number meant further waiting for
the bridegroom.
In another custom, the girls would make small flour pellets, lay them
next to each other, and let in a rooster or a dog. The girl whose pellet
was eaten first was "sure" to marry first as well. Given thus
the "sign" of the upcoming marriage, the girl was obviously eager
to know who her husband would be. She "found it out" by counting
the ninth post from the left in the fence. If the post was upright and
covered with bark, the bridegroom would be handsome and rich. If there
was no bark an the post, the husband would be poor. If the post was crooked,
the husband would be a hunchback. If there were knots in the pole, the
husband would be a widower with children. Later the girls invented a new
custom: slips of paper with the names of various boys would be added to
the filling of ***pirohy ***(pastries filled with jam or cheese).
When the girl then received a ***pirohy ***with a name of one of
the boys, it was believed that she would marry him.
But perhaps the most "unfailing" manner of finding out the
identity of the future husband was this. Before going to bed, the girl
would sow flax around a wooden pole stuck in the ground, asking the patron
of love for help (recorded in the village of Kurov near Bardejov):
***Andriju, Andriju,
Na tebe len siju,
Daj mi vnoci znaty,
Chto nia bude braty.***
Andrew, Andrew
It is on your day that I am sowing flax
Let me know at night
Who is going to marry me
She would then use a pair of undershorts to "harrow" the patch
of land she had sown with flax. At night she would lay the undershorts
under her head. The boy she dreamed about in her sleep was to become her
husband. There is no doubt that this "magic" technique of prediction
was highly successful, for the "dream boy" would most likely
be the same who figured most prominently in her daytime thoughts about
the prospective bridegroom.
Carpatho-Rusyns with a harvest wreath in a procession on the streets
of Presov. From a lithograph, dated 1841.
Birth and Baptism
**FOLK CUSTOMS OF CARPATHO-RUSYNS **
Birth and Baptism
duplication or use is prohibited and in violation of international copyright
law.
Until recently, the number of children in Rusyn families was fairly
high. The average was four or five per family, but even ten to fifteen
children were not considered extraordinary. At the same time, a high mortality
rate due to infantile diseases decreased their numbers. The only exception
to this pattern could be found among the Rusyns in the Backa region of
northeastern Yugoslavia. As early as the nineteenth century, they established
the so-called "one-child system," in order to prevent progressive
division of inheritance.
Childlessness was regarded among Rusyns as God's punishment. Society
treated childless women with disdain: they could not sit on a church bench;
when at a wedding, they were forbidden to put the marriage cap on the bride's
head; they were not allowed to join their family at the table, and so on.
However, a pregnancy occurring too soon after the wedding was not desirable
either. In order to put it off, women used several "magic" tricks:
a bride returning from the wedding ceremony sat down on as many of her
fingers for as many years as she did not want to have children. Alternatively,
she could make the appropriate number of bundles on her parta, a ribbon-like
decoration on the bride's head.
Pregnant women were generally held in high esteem. They were exempt
from hard work, fed better than normally, and their wishes were satisfied
generously. On the other hand, pregnant women had to respect a number of
"magic" restrictions. They did not bake bread so that the child
would not have a consuming "fire" in its body. They did not dry
hemp and thus avoided tuberculosis (in Rusyn: ***suchoty ***literally
a "drying-up disease"). They did not eat hare meat so that the
child would not suffer from harelip. They did not bathe in a stream so
that the child would not drown. Other similarly motivated restrictions
included leaping across fire or across a rope or shaft-bar, sitting on
a grave or a log, lookimg into the sun, or watching something ugly. Pregnant
women were also forbidden to stroke dogs, to touch an oven, to eat rotting
food, to drink water after sundown, to steal, to become angry, to curse,
and so on. In some villages, women in advanced pregnancy were forbidden
to go into the fields for fear of hail destroying the crops. On the other
hand, it was believed that if a pregnant woman walked around a burning
house three times, the fire would cease to spread, or if she walked around
a fruit tree, the yield would be higher.
The pregnant woman was expected to protect herself from so-called "unclean
spirits." For that purpose, she would wear or hold close to herself
a piece of garlic, a knife, or another object made of iron. In order to
make sure that the child would be attractive, the pregnant woman often
looked at holy pictures. Even today some young pregnant women continue
the practice, canying instead, a photograph of a popular actor.
The childbirth itself was connected with a number of other customs.
Normally, it took place at home with the assistance of a ***babka ***or
povitucha, a midwife. When the childbirth was difficult,
all the locks in the household were unlocked and all knots were loosened.
If this was not "effective" enough, the woman was massaged, bathed
in an extract of camomile, given wine or walked around the house, or even
shaken in a trough.
Immediately after the birth, the midwife sprinkled the child with consecrated
water and laid it on a sheep's skin so that it would be healthy. Special
precaution was taken not to lay the child with its feet pointing toward
the door, for it was feared that this could lead to an early death. A list
of appearance traits in the newborn interpreted in a superstitious manner
could go on for pages: for instance, curly hair was believed to signify
future wealth; clenched fists indicated tight-fistedness, and eyebrows
grown together marked a future sage. A child born with a caul or "cap"
on the head was expected to have good luck; whereas hair grown in the shape
of two little wreaths was believed to foreshadow widowhood, and so on.
Sometimes a newborn son was taken to the stable to be "introduced"
to the cattle.
Great importance was attached to the child's first bath. The parents
would throw a coin, a grain, or a piece of garlic into the bath. Next to
the tub they would lay a book, a pen, an axe, a scythe, a hammer, or a
plowshare. If the baby was a girl, the parents would put a spindle, a needle,
and a piece of thread into the water. This was believed to arouse a love
of work and learning in the child from the very first moment. In order
to make the child hardened against the cold, a pair of goose legs were
dipped into the water before the bathing. The money taken out of the first
bath was used as a reward for the midwife. The water from the first bath
was spilled into the manure heap or into a place not frequented by people.
This was also the place where the parents would bury the placenta.
When the bathing was over, the midwife usually made little "corrections"
of the imperfections in the child's appearance. She would shape the head,
straighten the legs, make a dimple on the chin and on the cheeks. Then
she would dress the child in a new shirt, or wrap it in a diaper and put
it on the floor or under the table from where the father would pick it
up and lay it on the table. This act was a symbolic manifestation of his
fatherhood.
The mother's bed was usually located in a corner of the room and curtained
off with a piece of canvas. Here the mother was confined for six weeks
after the birth, or at least until the baptism of the child. Prior to the
baptism, a number of restrictions were in effect. Nothing could be taken
out of the room, the mother could not turn her back on the child, nor could
she leave it alone in the room because, it was feared, the "unclean
spirits" would take the child and leave another in its place. Subcarpathian
folklore includes a number of tales about "changelings" (odminy).
In these tales, a good child was exchanged by a witch (bohynka, bosorka
or povitrulja) for a bad one. In order to prevent such an exchange,
the child's identity was marked by a piece of red thread bound on its wrist.
If the mother died in or after childbirth, the relatives usually wished
that the child also die. They put the child to its dead mother's breast
or lay it next to her. If the child remained alive, it was believed that
the ghost of the mother came in through the window at night to rock, bathe,
and feed the child, so they left the window open, put water into the tub,
and so on.
Immediately after childbirth and in the following weeks, the mother
was visited by neighbors and close relatives who brought into "her
corner" the best food available, such as chicken soup, meat, and cakes.
In order to "fortify" herself if necessary, the mother kept in
her corner a bottle of wine or even homemade brandy. Unlike the mother,
the newborn child could be seen only by close relatives. They were expected
to spit upon the child symbolically and say something critical about
it, for instance, "How ugly the child is!" Any praise of the
child was feared to bring misfortune.
The birth of a child was naturally a reason for festivities. A little
feast arranged by the father followed the first bathing. But the big feast
took place only after the baptism (chrestyny, krstyny) where
the most esteemed guests were the godfather and the godmother. Sponsorship
was a highly respected institution and it turned the godparents into nearest
kin. To underline their respect for the godparents, the parents even ceased
to address them with the informal ty (thou) and turned to
the more ceremonious vy (you). To reject the privilege of
becoming godparents was regarded as extremely improper. The godparents
of the first-born child were then usually godparents of subsequent children.
The godparents were changed only if "their" child died. If several
children died in succession, the mother went to give birth in a household
of strangers, and the sponsorship was offered to the humblest of people:
to a tramp, a gypsy, or simply to the first person the parents met when
bringing the child to the baptism.
The child was usually baptized two or three weeks after its birth, or
sooner if it was sick. The godparents would bring a child's shirt (krizmo),
a cap, and a piece of linen to the baptism. Into the swaddling clothes
of the child they would put a piece of garlic and bread. The child was
brought to the baptism by either the midwife or the godmother. Sometimes
the child was taken out of the house not through the door, but through
the window, in order to "outwit" the "unclean spirits."
The first child was usually named for the father or mother. The girl's
name was usually determined by the father. The most frequent male names
were: Jurij, Mychajlo, Petro, Ivan, and Mykola. The most frequent female
names were: Marija, Hanna, Kateryna, and Paraska. If the newborn child
was illegitimate, its name would be determined by the priest. Often the
name was unusual in the given locality, and thus marked the child for the
rest of its life.
When the child was at the baptism, its cradle was filled with bread
so that the "vacancy" would not be filled by the "unclean
spirits." The baptism itself was connected with another series of
superstitions. The crying of the child during the baptism signified a long
and cheerful life; a candle that died out in the hand of the godmother,
or a pit dug in the cemetery adjoining the church, was believed to foreshadow
the early death of the child.
When the parents returned from the baptism with the child, they would
lay the child near the oven or on the table, and the midwife would recite
a customary wish, such as the following one recorded in the village of
Kurov near Bardejov in the Presov Region of northeastern Slovakia. (The
translation of this verse and all subsequent verses is literal, omitting
the original rhythm and rhyme.)
Vzajaly zme vam pohanca,
Prinesly zme chrystyjanca,
Zebu ono roslo komu tomu,
Sameperse Bohu Ocu Nebeskomu,
A tak nanjovi, mami, didovi, babi
Na radist', na potichu,
A chresnym rodicom na dobru odsluhu
Zeby ono do cerkvi chodylo,
Ale i korcmi nezabyvalo.
We took away from you a pagan,
We have brought you a Christian.
So that it would grow up for many,
Especially for God, our Heavenly Father
And also for the father, mother, grandfather and grandmother
For their joy and pleasure
And also to reward its godparents.
So that it would go to church,
But that it would not shun the tavern either (so
that it would be sociable).
If the baby was a girl, the wish would continue as follows:
Zeby z njej byla v polju robotnvca,
V tanci tanecnica.
Do ucynja sikovna,
I do ljubynja sposobna.
So that she would be a good worker in the field,
A good dancer,
Able to learn,
And able to love
The baptized girl would then be passed from one set of hands to another
so that, when grown up, she would go from the hands of one young man to
those of another at a dance. If the baby was a boy, the wish would end
like this:
By mo zdravja ne chybovalo.
Ale i pinjari nebrakovalo,
Zeby znal oraty--sijaty.
Ale i pirko v Nkach trymaty.
So that he would not be poor in health,
Or lack money,
So that he would be able to plow and sow,
But also to hold a pen.
The baptismal feast usually took place on Sunday afternoon. The meals
served were usually quite simple such as mutton, cheese, or ***macanka
***(a mushroom sauce with meat), boiled meat, and cakes. The drinks
usually included wine and brandy. The cups had to be emptied to the last
drop so that the child would not be tearful. At present, the fare at the
baptismal feast is usually made in a restaurant. Instead of traditional
baptismal cakes, the guests eat desserts and store-bought cakes. The guests
at the feast usually include the godparents, close relatives, and neighbors.
Each of the women present bring a baptismal gift, usually flour, sugar,
coffee, rice, a chicken, or cakes. Sometimes the parents invited a musician
to the feast. The most opulent feasts were held for the first-born son.
An important part of the baptismal feasts were songs for the occasion.
Cheerful feasts with merry songs were believed to foreshadow a happy and
contented life for the child, whereas baptismal feasts without much singing
would predict a sad fate for the child. According to one of the songs recorded
in the village of Kurov:
Ani toto kresna
Vesele nebude,
Ked' mu chresna maty
Spivaty nebude.
The baptized child
Won't be cheerful
If its godmother
Does not sing for it.
The main topic of the baptismal feast songs was praise for the mother,
as in this song recorded in the town of Medzilaborce, also in the Presov
Region:
A nasa kumicka
Jak jasna zornycka
ZU polozi lezyt.
Dribnych rybok bazyt.
Chocoby sja mi pryslo
Po pas namocity,
Ja kumocci musu
Rybok nalovyty.
And so our dear woman
Like a clear morning star
Lies after the birth.
And wants to eat little fish.
Even if I were
To get wet up to my waist.
I much catch for her
Some fish.
Sometimes the songs make gentle fun of the godparents, as in this song
recorded in the village of Kruzlov, near Bardejov, in the Presov Region:
Kresnyj otec zaspal,
Krsna zadrimala,
Skoda tej parady
Ze sja tak prybrala.
The godfather fell asleep.
The godmother is dozing too,
So why did she bother to put on
That luxurious dress.
The baptismal feast usually lasted until night. If the guests were still
singing on their way home, it was a sign to the village that the feast
was a success.
According to church rules, the vyvid (the mother's leaving her after-birth
confinement) took place six weeks after the birth. However, many women
tried to shorten this period and return to ordinary life and work as soon
as possible. When the mother had given birth for the first time, she was
accompanied to the ceremony of the ***vyvid ***by the midwife or
mother-in-law. If the child was not the first-born, the mother would go
to the ceremony by herself with the child. The usual recommendation to
the mother going to the ***vyvid ***ceremony was to put on her
petticoat upside down. In that case the "unclean spirits" would
have no access to her. At present, the ***vyvid ***ceremony is
usually connected with the baptism. The birth of a child was also connected
with other folk beliefs. It was believed that the next child would be of
the same sex as the first person the mother met when going to the vyvid.
If the mother did not wish to have any more children, she would dig an
axe without a handle into the earth, or she would throw a closed lock without
a key into a well.
At present, the pattern of childbirth in Subcarpathian Rus' (Transcarpathia),
the Presov Region, as well as in the Backa in Yugoslavia, is considerably
different than in the past. Childbirth usually takes place in maternity
hospitals with the assistance of doctors. However, some of the old customs
and superstitions are still alive. In the countryside, even today, most
parents have their child baptized in church, even if those parents are
otherwise nor church-goers. In such cases, the baptism is usually arranged
by grandparents or other relatives. More widespread nowadays are the state
promoted ceremonies "welcoming the children to life," organized
by local authorities. These ceremonies represent an interesting symbiosis
of old folk customs with present-day tendencies. Even at this "non-church
baptism" godparents are chosen and traditional songs are sung at the
subsequent feasts.
The Wedding
**FOLK CUSTOMS OF THE CARPATHO-RUSYNS: **
THE WEDDING
duplication or use is prohibited and in violation of international copyright
law.
A wedding scene in the 1970's from Kamjonka - a
Carpatho-Rusyn village in the Presov region near Stara L'ubovna. Wearing
her bridal wreath, the bride greets with a glass of brandy her groom and
the starosta.
The wedding, no doubt, has the dominant position among the domestic
customs of the Rusyns. Historically, there developed at different times
five basic types of weddings among Rusyns: (1) abduction of the bride;
(2) "buying" the bride; (3) the so-called "exchange";
(4) ***prystasstvo ***(the man's marrying into his bride's parents'
house); and (5) the "mainstream" type of wedding.
Abduction of the bride (vykkradanja) as a means of starting
a marriage is mentioned in Nestor's Chronicle of the eleventh century,
one of the oldest histories of the area. The continuation of this practice
is attested in another important historical document, the book Description
d'Ukraine, written in 1650 by the French traveller G. Beauplan. It
is worth noting that the abduction of one's future wife was fairly widespread
and generally tolerated.
The custom of "kidnapping" the bride was retained in the mountainous
areas of Subcarpathia as late as the nineteenth century. It survived longest
among the Rusyns settled in what is now a part of southwestern Romania.
In the village of Skejus, in the county of Timisoara, I met a Rusyn woman
who was "kidnapped" by her lover from her husband as recently
as the late 1940's. The chief reason for the abduction of the bride (with
her consent!) was that her parents would not agree to the marriage for
some reason. The couple usually found asylum with relatives or friends
in another village, and after several days or weeks, they returned to their
parents' homes to get "properly" married - though without the
usual wedding feast. Both the parents, who clearly had no other choice,
and the society tolerated this unconventional manner of establishing a
family. Some of the less affluent parents even welcomed it, for it absolved
them of financing the costly wedding feasts.
Certain elements of the abduction of the bride are still present today
in the Carpatho-Rusyn folk wedding ritual, though few people realize their
connection with the "real thing" of the past.
The "purchase" of the bride usually took place at the "girls'
fairs" discussed in the article on Whitsun customs (Carpatho-Rusyn
American, Vol. VII, No. 2, 1984). The "girls' fair" held
at Krasny Brod, near the town of Medzilaborce, was the most well known.
The purchase of brides was not the only purpose of these fairs. They were
primarily a pretext for the meeting of Rusyn shepherds and peasants living
throughout the year in small, isolated hamlets and villages scattered across
Subcarpathian Rus'. But, as was natural for young people who otherwise
had little opportunity to get married in their sparsely populated communities,
many agreed to marriages at these fairs. Since each member of the patriarchal
family was an indispensable participant in the economic endeavor, the bride's
family thought it appropriate to demand of the parents of the bridegroom
a certain compensation for losing a member of its "labor force".
This "purchasing" of the bride is reflected in many rituals of
the present-day Rusyn folk wedding in Sub-carpathian Rus', such as the
bridegroom's "purchase of a heifer" when he is courting the bride,
his "purchasing" his bride during the course of the wedding procession,
his buying the wedding crown or ***parta ***(a decoration with
ribbons for the bride's head) for the bride, and so on.
The third form of contracting a marriage was the so-called "exchange"
(obmin, cerjana). According to this custom, a brother and
a sister from one family got married simultaneously to a sister and a brother
from another family. In such cases, neither of the two families involved
demanded the otherwise customary marriage dowry. The economic advantage
of this kind of wedding, especially for the poorer people, was further
enhanced by the fact that the families held only one wedding feast for
the two couples. However, the "exchange" wedding, like the "abduction"
or the "purchase" types of wedding, became very rare as early
as the nineteenth century, and in the twentieth century, they are the exception.
The fourth form of entering the marital bond was the prystasstvo (the
bridegroom's marrying into the house of his bride's parents). The most
frequent reason for this kind of marriage was that the bride had no older
brothers, and the bridegroom's helping hands were needed in this household,
while the household of the man's parents could do without his help. This
kind of wedding was rather disadvantageous for the ***prystas ***(the
man who married into his bride's parents' house). In theory, he could inherit
the property of his wife's parents (or at least a part of it), but in practice
this hardly ever happened. Moreover, the bride's parents or brothers could
disinherit the ***prystas ***any time they pleased. The uncertain
position of the man who married into the house of his bride's parents is
best summed up in the folk saying: ***Prystaseva torba vse na klynku
vysyt' ***(literally,'The bag of the ***prystas ***is always
hanging on a hook.") The meaning is that the ***prystas ***could
be driven out of the house at any time, picking up his basic "chattel"
from the "hook" and leaving.
The most widespread form of wedding, however, has always been that of
the bride's marrying into the house of her bridegroom's parents. This occurred
on the basis of mutual agreement between the future spouses and their parents.
Let us now have a closer look at this most typical type of Rusyn wedding.
It is perhaps appropriate to say that the Carpatho-Rusyn folk wedding
was a complex "theatrical" form comprising elements of song,
dance, music, spoken word, and even artistic design. These elements, along
with the rational and "magic" undercurrents present in the "performance,"
developed over time into a harmonious "play" with firmly established
rules. Each of the participants had a particular role in the folk wedding.
The chief protagonist of the "play" was, of course, the bride
(molodyca, moloda). She was dressed in a special wedding
costume which, as late as the beginning of the twentieth century, had to
include a fur coat, regardless of the time of year. The bridegroom (***molodyj
***had to wear a long linen coat, the so-called ***cuha ***or
guba. Both the fur coat and the ***cuha ***were to
demonstrate the couple's affluence, and their wearing them at the wedding
ceremony was also to signify their future prosperity. There were also other
indispensable aspects of the couple's appearance at the wedding: the bride
was to wear a small periwinkle (barvinok) wreath on her head,
the bridegroom had to put a "feather" of rosemary in his hat.
Important roles were played by the "wedding" father and the "wedding"
mother of both the bride and the bridegroom. Should any of them be deceased
at the time of the wedding, their role would be taken by one of the nearest
relatives.
The two chief organizers of the wedding were the ***starosta ***(representing
the bridegroom's side) and the marsalko or ***nastavnyk
***(representing the bride's side). They were to see that all tradition
was carefully followed. The outward signs of their function were specially
embroidered towels and a special kind of mountain axe, the so-called topirec.
The "cast' of the wedding "play" also included the bridesmaids
and the groomsmen. The respective godfathers usually played the role of
***zastavnyky ***(flag-bearers). The bridegroom's godmother was
the senior ***svaska ***(the senior female member of the wedding
party on the bridegroom's side), and the bride's godmother was the senior
***prydannyca ***(the senior female member of the wedding party
on the bride's side). Other relatives played the parts of ordinary ***svaty
***and ***svasky ***(male and female guests on the bridegroom's
side) and ***prydannyky ***and ***prydannycy ***(male and
female guests on the bride's side). There was a special ritual prescribed
for the invitation of the people who were to serve as "functionaries"
at the wedding, as well as a special ritual for their inauguration into
these functions.
The most popular time of the year in which to hold a wedding was in
late winter or early spring, the period of ***fasyngy ***or ***maslenycja
***(roughly between Christmas and the start of the Great Lent before
Easter). Even though each village had its own variations of the wedding
customs, the basic pattern was common to the entire Subcarpathian region.
This pattern consisted of the following stages:
***Rozvydyny ***(the "reconnaissance"): In past generations
of Carpatho-Rusyns (almost until the middle of the twentieth century),
mutual affection among prospective spouses was not necessarily the main
factor in contracting the marriage. Often the matchmaking decision was
left up to the respective parents whose considerations were more rational
than emotional. When choosing a partner for their child, they especially
considered economic status, morality, character, health, industriousness,
and so on. The initiative in the "reconnaissance" usually came
from the parents of the bridegroom. The mission to determine the "marriageability"
of the prospective bride was entrusted to an "envoy", usually
one of the bridegroom's relatives. If his findings were favorable, an "official
delegation" of the bridegroom's family was sent to the bride's parents'
house.
***Sprosyny ***(the asking for the bride's hand): The above-mentioned
delegation consisted of two or three relatives of the bridegroom. At least
one of the delegates was to be an experienced man and a convincing orator.
Usually this man later became the starosta. The delegates
(sprostary, literally, "the askers") came to the bride's parents'
house unannounced. It was not appropriate for them to come directly to
the point. In a roundabout way they started to speak of themselves as pilgrims
or shepherds looking for a lost sheep, or as hunters chasing a deer, or
as merchants looking for a heifer to purchase. The response of the bride's
parents was in a like manner. If they found the prospective bridegroom
to be a good partner for their daughter, they would answer: "We do
have the sheep (deer or heifer) here except we are not sure if she is the
one you are looking for." If for some reason they disliked the prospective
son-in-law their answer would be: "There is no such animal at this
house." This metaphorical conversation had a particular purpose: it
was to divert the attention of the "unclean spirit' away from the
real event (the planned wedding), and thus insure that the wedding proceed
without any difficulties.
If a basic agreement was reached between the delegates and the bride's
parents on the mutual "compatibility" of the two young people,
the delegates were invited to the table by the parents. After a lime "fortification"
of the two sides with a few slugs of homemade brandy brought by the delegates,
the bargaining over details was begun. This was usually rather difficult
- the main bone of contention obviously being the amount of the marriage
dowry. When an agreement was reached on that matter, the future bride who
was hiding in the closet or in a neighbor's house, was sent to the inn
to bring some more brandy to seal the preliminary contract. This was also
a sign to the whole village that the girl in question had been "asked
for her hand".
***Rukovyny ***(engagement): A week or two later, the closest
relatives of the two young people, including the bridegroom himself, met
in the house of the bride's parents to formally conclude the agreement.
The bride was again in hiding, and when the bridegroom's ***starosta
***(the former head of the delegation, now one of the chief organizers
of the wedding) ceremoniously asked the bride's parents to introduce the
bride to the young man, they would not comply with his wish immediately.
For the first and second time they would bring an old woman, a strange
girl, or a boy dressed in girl's clothing into the room. Only the third
time would they introduce the real bride.
The ***starosta ***would then ask the young couple to shake
hands with each other (thus, the engagement ceremony received its Rusyn
name - ***rukovyny ***or zarucyny, meaning holding
hands or handshaking), to go around the table, and to exchange rings. The
bride then decorated her future husband with a "feather" of rosemary
which the bridegroom wore either on his hat or on the lapel of his coat
until the wedding day. In addition, she gave him a decorative towel, embroidered
by herself, and a shirt also made by herself. Both gifts were a demonstration
of her skill and industriousness. She also gave a decorative towel to the
starosta and to some other guests. The youth of the village would gather
under the window of the betrothed girl's house and sing joking songs in
an attempt to dissuade her from marrying.
***Vuhlyny ***(the visit of the bride's parents to the bridegroom's
parents): About a week after the engagement (most often on a Sunday afternoon),
the bride's parents would visit the house of the future son-in-law in order
to get better acquainted with the bridegroom's family and-its economic
status. Since it was customary for the bride's parents to closely inspect
all the "corners" (vuhly) of the bridegroom's parents'
house, the visit was thus called vuhlyny. This visit also
offered the opportunity to resolve all remaining practical questions concerning
the wedding ceremony: the day of the wedding, the number of guests, the
expenses, and so on.
***Oholosky ***(the banns): In the past, the church was the
only institution authorized to contract and register marriages, so the
young couple had to inform the local priest of the forthcoming marriage
at least three weeks before the ceremony. The priest would then test their
basic knowledge of religion. If the couple's answers failed to satisfy
him, as they often did, the young couple had to attend the priest's special
classes for several days. Only then would the priest announce in the course
of three Sunday services the decision of the couple to enter marriage.
The preparation for the wedding: After the betrothal, the families of
the two young people prepared intensively for the ceremony. The young man
hired the musicians, the groomsmen, and other functionaries. The bride
and her girlfriends embroidered decorative towels, stripped feathers for
the featherbed, finished her wedding dress, and completed her trousseau.
The preparations reached their peak during the last week before the ceremony.
Special attention was paid to the baking of the wedding cake (korovaj,
balec, kuch).
On the eve of the wedding, the guests would bring gifts, usually a basket
of food. The nearest relatives would also give the young couple some articles
of clothing and things for the household.
***Plescyny ***or ***zahudovanky ***(the bachelors'
dance): On Saturday evening, the day before the wedding, the young man
staged the bachelors' dance in which he said his last good-bye to batchlerhood
and to his friends whom he was now "leaving" for the marital
bond. It began with the bachelors' dance of the bridegroom and the groomsmen,
followed by a party. At the end of the bachelors' entertainment, the bride
came to part company with her single girlfriends.
Weaving of the head wreaths: On Saturday night the bridesmaids came
to the house of the bride's parents. They would then go with the ***marsalko
***or ***nastavnyk ***(one of the chief organizers of the
wedding on the bride's side) to the woods or to the backyard where they
would stay until sunrise. There they would pick ***barvinok ***(periwinkle),
an evergreen plant which was regarded as a symbol of everlasting affection.
The bridesmaids would then make a little wreath out of the periwinkle with
which to decorate the head of the bride at the wedding. Also, the shape
of the wreath was believed to have a symbolical meaning: it was round like
the sun and was thought to assure the newlyweds of fertility and good luck.
With the wreath on her head, the bride would be dressed in her wedding
costume.
The wedding procession to the bride: In the meantime, in the house of
the bridegroom, the ***svasky ***(the female members of the wedding
party on the bridegroom's side) were busy making the ***zastava ***(wedding
flag). Usually this consisted of a flagstaff or a trunk of a small coniferous
tree decorated with ribbons. It was held at the front of the procession
by the ***zastavnyk ***(flagbearer), usually the bridegroom's godfather.
It was his duty to protect the flag from getting "stolen." If
he was not attentive enough, and the flag was "stolen" by practical
jokers, the godfather had to buy it back from the "thieves" at
a high price. At about nine o'clock in the morning, the bridegroom's parents
gave their son a blessing for a "long journey." and the wedding
procession proceeded to the bride's house. The flagbearer was followed
by the ***starosta ***(one of the chief organizers of the wedding
on the bridegroom's side), the groomsmen, the musicians, and the other
members of the wedding party. Outwardly the wedding procession gave the
impression of a military expedition. In some villages the groomsmen rode
on horseback, shot off rifles in the air out of fun, and generally made
quite a row. The house of the bride's parents was locked up "out of
fear" of the unruly procession, and only after a ritual conversation
between the bridegroom's ***starosta ***and the bride's ***marsalko
***was the house unlocked for the bridegroom's party.
Calling the bride out of hiding: The bride's relatives regarded the
bridegroom's party as "adversaries," and behaved toward them
accordingly. They hid the bride in a closet or in the neighbor's house.
Asked by the ***starosta ***to show the bride to the procession,
the bride's people would initially show them a false one -- an old woman,
a Gypsy woman, or even a boy dressed as a girl. All these actions of feigned
distrust in the bridegroom and his companions, and the resulting practical
jokes, had a more serious, rational aspect. They reflected the age-old
fears of parents of marriageable daughters that their offspring would be
forcibly kidnapped by strangers. Only after a long "bargaining"
session did the bride's people bring in the real bride. The marsalko then
gave a touching speech in which he thanked the bride's parents for her
upbringing. The bride responded by kneeling in front of her father, mother,
grandparents, and brothers and sisters. She gave each of them a kiss and
asked them through the ***marsalko ***for forgiveness. Her nearest
relatives would then give her their blessings. The bridesmaids joined the
ritual by singing melancholy songs about parting from one's parents.
Upon receiving the blessing, the bride decorated the hat of the bridegroom
with a wedding sprig of rosemary. The ***starosta ***and the bridegroom's
nearest relatives were then decorated by the bridesmaids with embroidered
towels, and the remaining relatives were decorated with sprigs of periwinkle.
Going to the wedding: When the bride said her good-bye to her parents,
the bridegroom's party and the bride's party joined together, and, accompanied
by the musicians, went to the church to participate in the ceremony. The
bride was led by the senior groomsman and the bridegroom was led by the
senior bridesmaid. The mother doused all of the members of the procession
with consecrated water and sprinkled them with grain. On their way to the
church the members of the procession sang emotional wedding songs. In some
villages, the parties of the bride and bridegroom met only at the front
of the church.
At the church door, the bride joined her bridegroom, and they entered
together. Interestingly enough, it was believed that the one who stepped
into the church first would have the first and last word in the family's
affairs. It is worth noting that among Carpatho-Rusyns, the customary church
wedding ritual was mixed with many elements of the folk wedding rooted
in an older, mainly pagan past: the exchange of wreaths and rings; walking
around the tetrapod (center table) with a burning candle; drinking wine
from one cup; and so on. Also, when the priest was marrying the couple,
the senior svaska (the senior female member of the bridegroom's party)
held above the couple's heads a loaf of bread bound over with yarn.
The return from the wedding: When the wedding ceremony was over, the
bride sprinkled the guests standing in front of the church with grain.
She would give candy to the children so that her own married life would
be "sweet." The procession then returned to the bride's parents'
house in the same arrangement as it had left for the church. The only change
was that the newlyweds went together this time. At the bride's home, the
couple and the guests were ceremoniously welcomed and offered festive dishes.
The wedding feast was opened by the ***starosta ***with a speech
ornamented with stories from the Bible. He then called on the guests to
join in a common prayer in which he blessed the food. Symbolically, the
newlywed couple had to eat from one plate (often with one spoon) and to
drink from one cup. The wedding feast consisted of several courses. Among
the obligatory dishes were ***macanka ***(mushroom soup), chicken
soup, meat, and ***holubky ***(rolled cabbage leaves stuffed with
meat and rice). The guests ate from mutually shared bowls and drank from
one cup which circulated among them together with the bottle. At the same
time they continued singing and dancing.
The bride goes to the bridegroom's house: In the evening, when the festive
meal was over, the bride, her eyes filled with tears, said her final good-bye
to all the members of the wedding party on her side, including small children.
She gave each of them a kiss, and in return they put money into her apron.
The last to kiss and bless the bride were her parents who provided her
with the ritual bread for the walk to the bridegroom's house. The ***starosta
***then thanked the bride's parents in the name of the bride for her
good' upbringing. Sometimes the bride's parents gave their blessing to
their son-in-law also. The whole ritual took place against the background
of the guests singing sad wedding songs.
In the meantime, the groomsmen and the bridesmaids paid a symbolic sum
to "buy" from the younger sister or brother of the bride the
appropriate trousseau: ***a lada ***(a kind of wardrobe) with apparel,
feather-beds, cushions, and various other items for the household. In western
Subcarpathian Rus', the members of the wedding party had the right to "complement"
the agreed-upon dowry by "stealing" from the bride's parents'
pots and pans, bowls and plates, and even hens. The members of the bride's
family inevitably had to be on their guard to protect their house from
too much stealing, even though it was done for the bride. On the other
hand, things which were once "successfully" stolen for her were
regarded by all to be the bride's rightful property. If the bride's parents
insisted on getting them back, they had to pay the members of the wedding
for them in kind -- usually with homemade brandy.
Those villagers who were not invited to the wedding added to the humorous
side of the festivities by stopping the procession. They did so by putting
a hurdle (***perejma ***or sl'abant) on the road.
They removed it only after being treated with brandy. Even that was not
enough if the bridegroom was from another village. He would then have to
add some "ransom" money in addition to the brandy. This, a mere
practical joke in more civilized times, was no doubt another reflection
of the origin of many wedding traditions in an older, rougher past.
In the house of the bridegroom: Here the wedding procession was welcomed
by the mother of the bridegroom. She was dressed in a fur coat turned inside
out. She offered the bride a piece of bread and an egg which she let slip
down the bride's bosom -- so that she would bear children easily. As for
the other guests, the bridegroom's mother sprinkled them with consecrated
water and grain. She ushered the bride into the house by pulling her by
her embroidered wedding towel. Both women walked three times around the
festive table, whereupon the mother seated the bride on the most honored
seat next to her son. When offered the first glass of brandy, the bride
poured it out behind her seat. The second glass she offered to her husband.
It was only the third glass of brandy which she emptied herself.
The newlyweds were then joined at the table by the remaining guests,
and the festivities, comparable to those which were held at the bride's
house, lasted until late into the night.
The newlywed couple's first night: In the evening, the female members
of the wedding party on the bridegroom's side made the bed for the couple
in a loft or in a closet. Under the bed they would put a yoke, a harrow,
a plow, an axe, or another object made of iron. With the accompaniment
of music, the ***starosta ***and the members of the wedding saw
the couple off to their bedroom. This prelude to the wedding night was
highly ceremonious. First went the ***starosta ***with a mountain
axe held upright in his hand, followed by two women holding burning candles
(svitylky). The newlywed couple also held burning candles.
Then came another of the practical jokes: the senior groomsman lay down
on the bed, demanding of the husband "compensation money." Upon
receiving it, he blessed the bed with the mountain axe and laid it under
the cushion. Next to the bed the members of the wedding who were present
put a piece of the wedding cake (korovan.
When the couple was left alone, the bride took off her husband's shoes
where she found a few coins for good luck. At this time, he helped her
take off her wedding dress. In the meantime, the festivities in the house
were becoming even rowdier. There were performances of jocular plays and
the guests started singing erotic songs. If the newlyweds spent their first
night in the loft, the groomsmen jokingly "supported" the ceiling
with straw so that it would not "fall through" under the couple.
Taking the wreath off the bride's head and putting on the married woman's
bonnet: According to custom, the bride was to be the first person to get
up the morning after the wedding night. She whitewashed the oven (the seat
of "the good spirit of the house") with clay, and she cleaned
the room. With the room tidied up, the bridegroom's parents and the female
cooks arrived to arrange another stage of the wedding festivities. At about
nine o'clock in the morning, the members of the wedding on the bridegroom's
side gathered in the room, and after a treat they engaged in another ceremonious
act -- the taking off of the bridal wreath and its substitution with a
married woman's bonnet.
Removal of the bridal wreath: The ceremony of the taking off of the
bridal wreath and its substitution with a married woman's bonnet started
when the ***starosta ***would call on the senior groomsman to remove
the bride's wreath or ***parta ***(a decoration with ribbons for
the bride's head). This was done with a mountain axe, a knife, or a fork,
for the groomsman could not touch the wreath with his hands. While doing
this, the senior groomsman asked the young woman a rhetorical question
which, he repeated three times: Cy tobi maju holovu stjaty abo vinec
dolov znjaty? ("Am I to cut off your head, or merely take
off your wreath?") The customary answer of the bride to the first
two queries was: "Cut off my head!" Only the third answer gave
permission to take off the wreath. This act was also accompanied by the
guests singing songs appropriate for the occasion. Then, with the wreath
on his mountain axe (knife or fork), the groomsman danced a solo. When
he finished, he "sold" the wreath to the young husband for a
symbolic sum which they agreed upon after a lengthy bargaining session.
The ***svasky ***(female guests on the bridegroom's side) then
took the young bride to the closet or another place, seated her on a pail
filled with water from the local stream - the pail being covered with a
fur coat - and began the final stage of turning the bride into a wife.
First they arranged her hair into a "bun," and upon this they
put the married woman's bonnet. They also exchanged her single girl's dress
for that of a married woman. Like all other wedding customs, this one too
was accompanied by friendly joking and singing. With the bonnet on her
head, the young wife distributed the wedding cake to the nearest relatives
of her husband (his father, mother, grandparents, brothers, and sisters)
and to the other wedding guests. She also distributed her handmade presents
among the guests - mostly articles of clothing.
Rjadovyj tanec (the "dance in a row"): The final
step in the transformation of the bride into a married woman was "sealed"
by a spirited dance of the young wife with all the male guests. In the
midst of a circle formed around her, one by one the guests joined her in
the dance. Since there were usually some fifty to one hundred dancing partners,
the marathon was rather exhausting for the young woman. On the other hand,
it brought her quite a considerable financial sum (which she did not have
to share with her husband or parents-in-law). This was because each of
the dancers had to pay her a certain amount of money. The nearest relatives
usually gave the most, the more distant ones somewhat less. Meanwhile the
husband watched the dance from a distance. When he noticed that his wife
was dancing with someone for too long or that she was too exhausted, he
asked for a dance himself (he had to pay her also). After several steps,
he took her in his arms, broke the closed circle, and they both hid in
the closet which he locked up. Some anthropologists interpret this dance
as a remnant of an ancient ritual intercourse of the bride with all male
relatives of the bridegroom which is recorded in old documents and which
may still be practiced among some groups in remote areas of the world.
Washing the young wife in the stream: The "dance in a row"
nurtured a growing excitement. When the excitement reached its peak, the
***starosta ***brought the newlyweds out of the closet and with
a burning candle in his hand led them to the local stream. They were accompanied
on their way by the music and by the singing of the wedding guests. The
newlyweds washed first, followed by the other members of the wedding. Sometimes
the wedding guests threw the starosta, the senior groomsman,
and other wedding functionaries into the water. The bridesmaids also used
to throw into the stream their single girls' head wreaths to find out from
the speed with which the wreaths were carried away by the stream whether
or not they would marry soon. On their way back to the house, the newlyweds
leapt across a fire to "dry out." In the house, they sprinkled
the oven, the table, and icons with stream water and doused the guests
with it as well. Both the water and the fire had a symbolic magic function:
to purify the newlyweds and the guests from sin and thus to assure them
of a happy life.
Propoji prydany (the feast staged by the relatives of
the young wife): With the bride finally "turned into a married woman,"
the bridegroom's mother sent a junior groomsman or some of the relatives
to break the news to the young woman's parents. The bride's parents summoned
their family for a small dinner. In the course of the dinner the women
of the family made a ***darnyk ***(a flagstaff on which each of
the women fixed a piece of linen or a bandana). Then they formed a procession
which brought the ***darnyk ***into the house of the bridegroom.
There, the old ritual of "enmity" between the family of the bride
and the family which took the bride away was repeated.
The bridegroom's party locked the house, opening it only after a long
bargaining session between the ***marsalko ***(one of the chief
organizers of the wedding on the bride's side) and the starosta.
The ***propijci ***or ***prydannyky ***(the members of
the wedding on the bride's side) were then seated at the vacated tables
and reunited with the bride, who was now wearing the married woman's bonnet.
The young woman first greeted her mother, who gave her the ritual bread
called ***balec ***or pryvykanec. Then the bride
kissed all her relatives and received their gifts. However, the "enmity"
between the two families continued further. The ***prydannyky ***and
the ***svasky ***exchanged a series of songs mocking each other,
but when the singing and feasting was over, the "enmity" did
not prevent the guests of both parties from joining in a new round of dancing
which lasted until late at night.
***Popravyny ***or ***svascyny ***(the gradual waning
of the wedding festivities): On the third day of the wedding, usually a
Tuesday, all the guests again gathered in the bridegroom's house. This
time they treated themselves from their own resources. Each of the women
brought a bottle of brandy and some food from which they prepared a lunch.
When the guests ran out of food and drink too soon, the men of the bridegroom's
party made a wooden horse with which they visited the households of the
guests, requesting some food and drink "for the horse." During
this final stage of the festivities, there was much merrymaking, music,
and song, so that the revelry again lasted the whole day.
As we have tried to demonstrate. the traditional Carpatho-Rusyn wedding
had a fixed pattern. It lasted three days and included many magic elements
which could be traced to pagan times. Nevertheless, in the course of history.
Christianity made its own decisive impact on the customs. This was seen
not only in the church wedding, but also in the speeches of the ***starosta
***and the marsalko, which invariably commenced with
stories from the Bible adapted for the common folk. The traditional Carpatho-Rusyn
wedding pattern also reflected many elements of the ancient matriarchal
system, life in an extended patriarchal family, ancient law based on customs,
medieval military marches, and other historical components. The most outstanding
feature of each ceremonial act of the wedding festivities was the singing
of songs that mirrored the varied historical circumstances in which they
originated.
In spite of the general rigidity of the wedding pattern, it did not
remain immune to the enormous changes of modern times. The two historical
milestones in the gradual disappearance of Carpatho-Rusyn wedding customs
were the two world wars. After the First and Second World Wars there was
a veritable "explosion" of weddings which, considering the hardships
following these conflicts, took place with a substantial lack of food,
drink, clothing, and in some cases housing as well. This resulted in a
marked simplification of the wedding pattern that persisted even after
the economy recovered. Moreover, after World War II, the Carpatho-Rusyn
community lost its isolated character so that, consequently, many elements
of Ukrainian, Slovak, Czech, and other wedding patters penetrated into
the traditional Rusyn wedding. This development was no doubt accelerated
by the influence of the modern mass media. Given all these tendencies,
it is unfortunate that there is as yet no thorough scholarly treatment
of the phenomenon of the Carpatho-Rusyn wedding tradition - not even a
single book dealing with it.
Just how much things have changed in most Carpatho-Rusyn villages can
be seen from the predominant present-day wedding pattern established in
the 1960s and 1970s. The wedding festivities have been reduced to only
one afternoon and evening. They usually take place in restaurants, or,
in some bigger places, in local "houses of culture" -multipurpose
institutions with a restaurant, a place for occasional theater and film
performance, meetings of various organizations, and other functions. The
traditional elements in such a modern wedding have all but disappeared.
Contemporary pop music emitted from amplifiers has practically replaced
the traditional choral singing of the beautiful old wedding songs. The
old function of the two chief organizers of the wedding for the bride and
for the bridegroom have also for the most part disappeared. A kind of substitute
for the old humorous customs is the public reading at the wedding feast
of jocular congratulatory telegrams.
All this would seem to demonstrate that the traditional Carpatho-Rusyn
folk wedding is on the wane. However, in the past few years, we have observed
a certain renaissance of wedding customs. Many folklore groups have included
in their repertory a number of traditional wedding songs and rituals such
as the ceremonious parting of the bride from her parents. It appears that
Carpatho-Rusyn youth are becoming tired of listening to commercial pop
music alone, and that they have started to look for lasting values in their
own folk heritage.
A certain hint of this new trend can be found in the answers to my recent
questionnaire concerning the relation of Carpatho-Rusyn youth in Eastern
Slovakia to folklore. In 1983, I put questions to almost 500 Carpatho-Rusyn
boys and girls 16-21 years of age who studied at secondary schools in the
city of Presov. They represented not only Carpatho-Rusyn youngsters living
with their parents in the city, but also youth from almost all the Carpatho-Rusyn
villages and small towns in the Presov Region. It is certainly remarkable
that in answering the question about the ideal notion of their own wedding,
93.1 percent of the respondents said that of all the options available,
they would favor the "folk wedding." By this they meant quite
unambiguously the traditional pattern with the broad spectrum of relatives
and other guests, with the starosta and the marsalko, and with the old
rituals and wedding songs. Only 12 of the respondents (11 of them city
dwellers) favored a wedding in the narrow circle of nearest relatives.
Not a single respondent favored a mere civil registration of the marriage
without any kind of subsequent wedding ceremony. These answers seem to
indicate that any prophecies about the imminent death of the traditional
Carpatho-Rusyn wedding are premature.
The Funeral
**FOLK CUSTOMS OF THE CARPATHO-RUSYNS: **
THE FUNERAL
duplication or use is prohibited and in violation of international copyright
law.
Young girls praying at a grave in Transcarpathia
in the earlier part of this century.
One of the first things to be noticed by man in the earliest stages
of historical development was the regularity and inevitability of two things
in life: birth and death. Having found that all living beings have their
beginning and end, man naturally accepted his own death as an unalterable
law of nature. At the same time, however, death, like all other natural
phenomena, appeared to primitive man as something supernatural and mysterious.
In order to "humanize" the abstract notion of death, early man
tried to form in his mind a concrete image of death.
In the Carpatho-Rusyn homeland, death was most frequently personified
in a powerful old woman armed with a scythe (***Smertka ***- the
"She-Death"). It was also represented by an old man, a skeleton
reaper, and even by animals (a horse, a dog, or a cat). At the time of
mass epidemics, once frequent in Subcarpathian Rus', minds feverish with
the illness and easily moved by mass hysteria were liable to believe that
death was a concrete being with which one could communicate. At first the
people tried to placate death with prayers and offerings, such as parts
of the clothing from each inhabitant of the village that were put into
the graves of those stricken by the plague. When this conciliatory approach
failed to produce the desired results, methods believed more effective
were used: an experienced exorcist was summoned to wield his magic power
and drive death into a grave and seal her there. Even today we can hear
in many Rusyn villages legends about people's meetings with death, or with
the living form of a dead man.
One of the most widespread superstitions in the past was the belief
that a dead man or woman could either help or harm the survivors. This
harm was feared especially in cases when the deceased did not receive due
honors following his or her demise. This is where the traditional burial
rites came in. In the past, when aged Rusyns felt that their "last
hour" was approaching, they summoned to their death-bed all their
relatives, divided their possessions among them, and said their last good-bye.
Sometimes, especially in the recent past, the village magistrate or a notary
was summoned in order to put together the dying person's last will. On
this occasion each of the relatives kissed the dying family member and
said a few parting words. Crying on the part of the relatives in such situations
was not usual, for it was desired that the dying person should spend the
last hours of his or her life in as relaxed an atmosphere as possible.
A customary guest of the expired person was also the priest who listened
to the confession and administered the sacrament of holy unction. Sometimes
the dying person expressed wishes as to how he or she should be dressed
for the burial and what particular form the burial should take. When all
these demands were met, the dying person would usually calmly expire, as
if death were scheduled. This obviously had as much to do with the general
mentality of village life as with auto-suggestion.
Dying was, of course, not always so serene. When it appeared "too
protracted," and when the dying person was believed to suffer more
and especially longer than was his or her due, the intervention of "unclean
spirits' was suspected. In such cases, the dying person was sprinkled with
holy water and "magic" plants were used for incense. A liturgical
candle was put into the dying person's hands, and among other things, holes
were bored into a wall so that the soul could "fly away." As
many religious icons show, the soul was imagined in the form of light or
dark vapor. Sometimes, to "speed up" the process of dying, the
person in question was moved to the middle of the room.
When the man or woman died, his or her eyes and mouth were closed. Sometimes
to prevent their re-opening, the eyelids were weighted down with coins,
and the lower jawbone fixed with a kerchief. This, at last, was the time
when the pent-up grief could be openly released. The room was filled with
the wailing (holosynja) of the women and with the recitals
of fixed formulae which highlighted the good deeds of the dead and the
dead's good relationships with his or her family. When a mother died in
childbirth (a frequent occurrence in the past), a new-born child was also
left with the mother to die because without a mother it had no chance to
survive.
In the house, all the doors, cupboards, and vessels were opened. The
head of the household or another member of the family went bareheaded to
break the sad news to the coroner, the priest, and the bell-ringer. The
tolling of his smallest bell (the funeral bell) announced to all the villagers
that one from their midst had departed. In some villages the smallest bell
only announced the death of a child. When an adult man died, his passing
was announced with the tolling of the largest bell, while the death of
a woman was announced by a medium-sized bell. The tolling, however, took
place only when the person in question died in the course of the day. When
he or she died after sunset, their demise was announced by the bell-ringer
the following morning.
In the meantime, at home, the dead person was washed and dressed in
his best clothes (these had to include the man's wedding shirt), was laid
out on a bench, and was covered with white linen. A dead young man or girl
was dressed in wedding costume, while a child was not laid out on a bench
but on a table, the legs pointing toward the door. The water, soap, comb,
pot, and other objects that come into contact with the dead person were
carried off to an inaccessible place in order to prevent their presumed
negative influence on the cattle and the crops.
As a sign of grief, any mirrors in the house were covered with a piece
of cloth. Candles brought to the house from the church were lit at the
side of the dead person (their number ranging from 2 to 8, depending on
the wealth of the deceased), and the joiner constructed a casket. As recently
as the first half of the nineteenth century, the Carpatho-Rusyns buried
their dead without a coffin, using instead a simple wooden plank. Later,
an unadorned rectangular coffin (hladka truna) closed with
a lid began to be used. Only in the twentieth century did they start to
use the sexagonal casket (horbata truna), consisting of two
identical parts. The coffin was usually made in the courtyard, in the anteroom,
or even in the very room where the deceased person was laid out. When the
coffin was finished, its bottom was bedded with wood-shavings, and a fresh
piece of turf was put at the place where the dead person's head was to
be laid. The body was then placed in the casket, which remained open until
the burial. The joiners were paid no money. Their only reward was their
meals and several glasses of brandy (palenka). All those
who helped wash and dress the deceased person were rewarded likewise.
The room with the dead was visited by relatives, neighbors, and acquaintances.
Each of them knelt at the side of the deceased to say a prayer, and then
briefly offer his or her condolences. The women from among the close relatives
expressed their grief by ritual wailing.
Towards evening the local church cantor (djak) came to
read from the psalter. The intervals between psalms were filled with narratives
from the life of the deceased and with legends or fairy tales. These tales
often acquired a cheerful, even jocular tone. This was due to the belief
that the deceased perceived everything that was going on around him or
her for as long as the grave was not "sealed." Therefore, the
dead person's relatives and friends tried to re-create the atmosphere to
which he or she was accustomed during his or her lifetime. In no case was
the deceased allowed to stay in the room alone. The number of people who
kept vigil over the deceased was an index of the honor bestowed on him
or her. The belief in the continued life of the soul of the deceased found
its reflection also in the custom of leaving a vessel with water and a
towel on the windowsill so that the soul could "wash itself clean
of sins" ***(umyty z hrichiv) ***and as well as leaving a
bottle of brandy for the "refreshment" of the dead person's soul.
An interesting phenomenon was the type of folk games with which young
people of both sexes passed the time of their vigil. These games, widespread
throughout the Carpatho-Rusyn homeland, most especially among the Lemkos
and the Bojkos, numbered into the hundreds. The most widespread of them
were "The Wooden Spades," "The Pear." "The Rooster."
"The Goose," "The Mill," "God and the Devil."
"The Goat." and "The Magpie." Some of them were played
also on other occasions, but most were connected with night vigils at the
side of the dead person. The contents of these games had little to do with
the sad atmosphere of the funeral. On the contrary, they were marked by
youthful mirth, high spirits, and eroticism.
Sometimes the young people involved the deceased person in the games.
For instance, the boys used various tricks to move the deceased's limbs,
creating fear and panic among the girls, or they tickled the dead under
his or her nose with a straw. The relatives and other senior people present
not only did not object to such merrymaking, but even encouraged it by
offering brandy to the revelers, believing that this would have a beneficial
influence on the crops and on the life of the family of the deceased. The
funeral games were sharply condemned as pagan by the church as early as
the Middle Ages, but apparently with little effect. The games remained
a part of the funeral customs virtually until the middle of the twentieth
century. This author has witnessed the playing of such games near the town
of Snina in the Presov Region as recently as the beginning of the 1960s.
The customs observed on the first night of the vigil were basically
the same as on the second night. The burial took place on the third day
after the death. Almost all the villagers took part in the ceremony. After
the priest's arrival at the house, along with the ***djak ***and
their party carrying the cross and the church banners, the excitement reached
its culmination with the nailing of the lid onto the casket. Prior to this,
the closest relatives parted with the deceased for the last time by kissing
the face, hands, and knees. Each of them threw into the casket several
coins so that the deceased could pay his or her "toll" to the
other world. The relatives also put into the casket the favorite things
of the dead: a pipe, tobacco, prayer book, sometimes even a bottle of brandy.
The casket was always taken out of the house with the legs of the dead
first ("so that the dead would never return"), and it was made
to touch the threshold of the house three times.
In the courtyard, the casket was laid on the bier and the burial proceeded.
The church ceremony was punctuated by the wailing of women. Another popular
Rusyn folk custom was the singing of "funeral parting songs."
Their theme was mostly the futility of earthly existence and the relationship
of the dead to his or her survivors. These songs, most of which were recorded
in hand-written songbooks from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries,
were sung by the djak. He received a special reward for his
singing, the amount of which depended on the emotional impression left
on those present.
The bier was carried to the cemetery by four to six neighbors, or was
transported (even in summer) on a sleigh drawn by oxen. This ancient form
of burial procession, known at least from the time of Kievan Rus', was
preserved the longest among the Carpatho-Rusyns. A live rooster and a loaf
of bread bound in yarn were carried at the head of the procession. Both
were donated after the funeral to the priest or to the sexton. The burial
procession for a young man or girl was an almost exact copy of the wedding
procession. It was headed by the ***starosta ***(one of the chief
organizers of the wedding) holding the wedding banner. He was accompanied
by the best man and bridesmaids carrying the casket decorated with the
wedding wreath. The casket of a young boy or girl was always carried by
young people of the opposite sex.
After the coffin was lowered into the grave, each of the participants
in the burial ceremony threw a handful of soil onto the casket. After the
grave was filled, a wooden cross was erected at its head. It often bore
no name; however, a coin of the latest year of issue was often affixed
to it. This helped to identify the grave and the buried person. Normally
the Rusyns did not take any special care of the graves of their relatives,
and so it sometimes happened that even the children did not know where
their parents were buried. Monuments on the graves have come to be generally
widespread only since the mid-twentieth century. After the burial ended,
it was customary to invite the participants to a funeral feast (pomana,
kar). The usual meal was bread and ***bryndza ***(a
kind of sheep cheese). Meat was served only as an exception. In far eastern
Subcarpathian Rus', the guests of the funeral feast were served a special
dish called ***kolyvo ***(a mixture of honey and boiled wheat).
The closest kin (parents, children, and siblings) mourned for the dead
relative for a year. The mourning could be, but did not have to be, expressed
by wearing black clothes. However, the social norm required that in the
course of the year the closest relatives of the deceased should not take
part in any sort of public entertainment, including weddings. Custom also
forbade them to whitewash the walls of the room in which the person died
("in case the soul of the deceased is resting in a crack in the plaster").
The belief in the possible return of the dead was so widespread in the
Carpatho-Rusyn homeland that tales on this theme have been retained in
all the villages. According to the stories, the late relative most often
returned to pick up his or her favorite things, such as a pipe, tobacco,
or a musical instrument. These things were usually laid upon the grave
in order to prevent any further return of the dead.
A frequent theme of folk stories was also the postmortal life and "deeds"
of evil male (vampir, dvodusnyk) or female
(***bosorkanja ***-- a witch) magic beings. These were believed
to go on, causing harm to people even after their death. They could cause,
for instance, hail, drought, or the death of cattle. In order to prevent
any further misdeeds of the evil spirits, the most superstitious among
the villagers would dig out the dead bodies believed to be the holders
of the evil spirits from their graves, cut off their heads, putting them
between their legs, or pierce the hearts of the dead. Court archives from
the past contain many documents testifying to such cases of vandalism motivated
by superstition.
At present, the original burial customs are largely extinct. New burial
customs include the mailing of funeral invitations, the bringing of store-bought
funeral wreaths to the graves, and expressing condolences at the cemetery
by a kiss and a handshake. The present-day funeral feasts have also changed
considerably. They are invariably very opulent, and they usually take place
in the village "house of culture" or restaurant. The participants
at the funeral feast (sometimes as many as 200 people) include all the
relatives, neighbors, and almost everybody who in some way was helpful
at the burial. The guests are served substantial lunches and alcohol. As
in the past, the funeral feast usually ends with the church memorial song
"Vicnaja pamjat", (Eternal Memory).
Recent times have witnessed a growing number of secular burials, that
is, burials without any church ceremonies. These are organized by the local
village councils (soviets) in Soviet Transcarpathia or by their equivalent
in Czechoslovakia, the "national committees." However, even the
secular funerals retain some of the elements of the traditional folk funeral.
Colophon
Mykola Musynka's nine-part series "Folk Customs of Carpatho-Rusyns"
(Carpatho-Rusyn American: Introduction and "Christmas and New Year,"
Vol. VI, #2-3, 1983; "Easter," Vol. VII, #1, 1984; "St. George's Day,"
Vol. VII, #3, 1984; "St. John's Day," Vol. VII, #4, 1984; "The Harvest
Festival and St. Andrew's Day," Vol. VIII, #1, 1985; "Birth and Baptism,"
Vol. VIII, #2, 1985; "The Wedding," Vol. VIII, #3, 1985; "The Funeral,"
Vol. IX, #3, 1986 -- each originally published and copyrighted by
Carpatho-Rusyn American in the year and issue given) is hosted at
carpatho-rusyn.org (Carpatho-Rusyn Knowledge Base). Captured 2026-08-05
from http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/customs/intro.html, c%26ny.html,
eastr.html, stgeor.html, stjohn.html, stand.html, birth.html,
wed2.html, and funeral.html. Published here under permission held by
the New Tianmu Anglican Church for this material, recorded 2026-08-05;
all rights remain with the original author, Mykola Musynka, and
Carpatho-Rusyn American.
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