РАЛО И ПЛУГ КАО СУПСТИТУТИ СВЕТОГ ДРВЕТА У ТРАДИЦИОНАЛНОЈ КУЛТУРИ БАЛКАНА
THE ARD AND THE PLOUGH AS THE SUBSTITUTES OF A HOLY TREE IN THE TRADITIONAL BALKAN CULTURE

Summary/Abstract: The arguments in this paper support the claim that the Balkan traditional culture’s ploughing implements – ard and plough – were considered as a substitute of a holy tree in which a supreme male solar deity lives. It is, above all, indicated by the same ritual context (objects, actions, verbal formulas) both of the the first ploughing and sowing custom when ard or plough are used and of some annual and living cycle customs in which the cult of a holy tree is undisputed. It is also indicated by the appearance of the ploughing implements’ parts in the customs of annual and living cycles as well as the appearance of the elements of these customs in the custom of the first ploughing and sowing. In the paper, the idea that the ploughing and sowing were considered as a sexual act between a male heavenly principle and the Earth as a female divine principle is supported. However, it is suggested that the male deity is in a ploughing implement while its phallus is the very plowshare. The fact that ploughing belongs to the domain of divine is also confirmed by the elements of folklore, first and foremost by the ritual song “A ploughman is ploughing an even field” that is sung to a ploughman (typical of the Shops area).

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