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The story of what happened on the Noah’s Ark after the Devil succeeded to sneak into it (AT 825) is well-known to both Christian (C) and Muslim (M) narrators in Bulgaria. It comprises of the following motifs – some of them have parallels in Muslim or Christian sources: (1) The Devil enters the Ark holding to the tail of the donkey/goat and is involuntarily invited by Noah himself; (2) The Devil in the form of a mouse makes a hole in the bottom of the Ark; or creates mice/persuades the mouse to gnaw the bottom of the Ark; in some variations mice act independently of Devil’s incitement (C); (3) A leak appears and two animals help to solve the problem: the cat who eats the naughty mouse (M); and the snake who stops up the leak with its body (curling up/using its tail – C+M). (4) The snake is rewarded: grateful animals and Noah promise that from that time on it could eat only “the most delicious meat/blood in the world”. (5) The mosquito is sent to taste the blood of all animals and to tell the others the results of the inquiry – human meat/blood appear to be “the most delicious”. (6) The swallow intercepts the mosquito on its way back and pecks out its tongue to prevent him telling the bad news. (7) The angry snake tries to catch the swallow but only takes hold of some feathers of its tail; (8) The mosquito can pronounce only “zh-zh-zh” and animals decide he wants to say that frog’s (Bulg. ‘zhaba’) is “the most delicious meat/blood in the world”. (9) Noah is angry with the snake and cuts its body to pieces and then throws it in the fire. The story is rife with etiological motifs of three types: 1) new animals appear (mice, cats, pigs – mainly in Muslim narratives; bloodsucking vermin – fleas, lice); 2) some birds, insects and reptiles change their appearance (swallow, mosquito, snake); 3) “natural” dietary habits of some animals are established (cats eat mice; snakes – mice and frogs; vermin – blood; pigs – waste products). Only the snake’s wish to eat human meat/blood seems to other animals “unnatural” and “sinful” and they unite together against the snake to prevent it. The motif of the snake-“perfidious helpful animal” who is, most probably, the snake of Genesis, 3: 1—5 is further analysed in the paper at the background of some common themes to the Abrahamic religions: the parallel between the Flood story and the story of the Creation; the sinfulness of the pre-diluvian generations and the violation of the hierarchy between man and animals; and finally – the prohibition to shed human blood and the establishment of new dietary laws in Noah’s Covenant after the Flood.
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Considered are peculiarities of the song tradition in the area of Dvina and Neman rivers’ basin (DN). The area requires individual study since it performs specific features within its most archaic layer of the harvest song’s melos. This is the most extensive tradition of three known harvest song traditions of Belarus, the other two being the Polessie region and the Sozh river area. The whole DN regional tradition is marked with a specific type of singing, which is – a type of incantations where a system of dynamic and emphatic accents is presented as the typical and the most important factor. This system predetermines the syntax of basic tones in the conjuration song tunes. Marked out is a circle of songs that comprise the nuclear of the DN macrotradition and refer to a single and solid cultural and historical layer. Such songs are combined by their common lexis, namely, by the same poetic and melodic structures, such as: sung double iambus, rhythmical or melodic¬ rhythmical fanfare figure, and “female” pentasyllabic verse. Besides the root DN lexemes, the song tunes with yet ascertained genealogy are found in the given region. Among those, there are tunes based on the rhythm of tetrasyllable structure, such as ascending ionic and choriambus. Represented is a modal and melodic dynamics of the DN complex. The findings of the research can be expounded in the light of Baltic¬ Slavic ethnic genesis theory.
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The present article analyses the features of a language occurring in the border. The results were achieved by using the ethno-linguistic method, which is based on the systematic analysis of the ritual structure and vocabulary. The object of the analysis was a little fragment of the spiritual culture – the winter period of the ritual year. The structure of the ritual was established according to the methodology as well as the terminology of rituals, which includes several lexical-semantic microfields, was analyzed. The research was carried out nearby Vilnius (region of Vilnius, partly Širvintai and Molėtai) and also in the regions close to Byelorussia (Šalčininkai and Švenčionys). The results achieved were compared to the appropriate Polish, Lithuanian and Byelorussian data. The findings show that the influence of various cultures is obvious in the formation of the rituals near to the border. These cultures as if layers affect each other and are originated from the different periods of the existence of a cultural community in the given territory. Similarly to the stratification of languages, the particular elements of the ritual system co-exist: the Lithuanian substratum rituals, Byelorussian old and new rituals, as well as Polish church and secular traditions are well preserved.
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One of the most poetic sections of Latvian and Eastern Slavonic songs is the cycle of songs containing orphan’s complaints to her descendent mother (rarely to father) for her hard life with a stepmother. In these songs – complaints of orthodox (Eastern Slavonic) and catholic (mostly Latvian) orphans from Latgale even the specific subject, which is connected with the wedding ceremony of blessing before leaving to the church. Just and only in Latgale (solitary Latvian variants recorded in Vidzeme, Kurzeme, Zemgale have been brought here by Latvians migrating from Latgale) an orphan’s song connected exactly with this rite of blessing the orphan is very popular. Such Latvian songs are notable by their distinct logic composition, amazing monotony of variants, different only in some insignificant details. Such monotony of Latvian songs appears also in songs’ beginnings and descendent mother’s replies containing the clarification of reasons due to which it is necessary to fulfill the orphan’s request. These replies usually come to “three locks” that have locked the descendent mother or father. These keys are – grass (the turf or in some cases green or white birches), yellow sand and a coffin board. In many songs the functions of each lock are listed as well as the attempts to remove those by orphan’s appeal to the wind, storm, rain, thunder and even to a “white bull-calf”, which calls upon to eat green grass, to disperse (spread) yellow sands, to break the coffin board. Such “locks” (just “locks”, not “barriers”) of Eastern Slavonic are popular only among Byelorussians of Latgale and adjoining regions of former Vitebsk province. The more to the South and the East of Byelorussia, the more and more seldom such “locks” may be met in songs. Although in Russian songs, the image of locks exists only in variants that were recorded in Latgale and in Lithuania. Such variants may be considered as borrowed from Byelorussian. In Russian songs the image of orthodox churches prevails as well as the appeals of clergymen to a church bell by striking which an orphan or her brother try to awake the descendent parents. At the same time the direct talk of an orphan with the God does not exist in Russian songs, but may be met mostly in Byelorussian and Latvian songs, in which not only the God, but also angels participate in orphan’s blessing. Along with songs containing the motive of three locks-barriers, both in Byelorussian and Latvian-Latgalian variants there exist such plots in which only the motive of the meeting of an orphan and the God, her appeal to the God and to nature’s forces with the appeal to dry the grass, to break a coffin board, to let her mother leave the heavens and the next world are still kept. In conclusion it should be mentioned that in the songs of all three nations there are also many other motives which open the relations between an orphan, her descendent parents and strange people, mostly an evil stepmother...
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Non-verbal means of expression have great significance from the point of view of folklore. The voice, as an instrument of human semiotic behaviour has a special place among these. The article concerns systematisation of concepts of voice in Siberian oral tradition, highlighting its semiotic functions and observing their transformation due to some characteristics of archaic folklore. Voices of nature were identified and this led to giving semiotic meaning to natural sounds: a specific being was associated with the sound. Best known among the beliefs, omens and forecasts based on acoustic code is the complex connected with the "language" of fire - interpretation of the sounds of burning. The concept of the "language" of fire probably derives from the concept of a fire god or fairy. Sounds can also have a warning or forecasting nature. A number of omens and beliefs are based on the interpretation of animal sounds as the speech of animals. A common type of acoustic signs is imitation of the sounds of nature. The semantisation of sound in oral culture leads to voices of nature being valued and partly also acknowledged as 1) natural objects, 2) a concept that denotes a living being and life, and eventually as an expression of intent and opportunity to govern the other's behaviour. Many Siberian peoples believe that every person has his or her own song. Usually the statistical norms of the family or social group are relied upon in creating a song. There is a number of taboos concerning personal songs. Bear feasts are a good example on how the "voice of a soul" (a song or instrumental piece) becomes the the religious expression of the ancestor-guardian spirit and a means of establishing contact between it and the living descendants.
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The article concerns Chinese astral myths, calendar and astrology. Chinese creation myths concern also the creation of the Sun, Moon and stars. The heavenly bodies are constantly endangered by the sky dragon that now and then catches them, probably a reference to eclipses. Cosmology existed in Ancient China in the same sense as in Ancient Greede, though many ancient books were burned on the emperor's orders in 213 BC. Teaching of the endless sky emerged in the Han era, while in 1 century AD the theory of endless empty space was formulated. For the majority of Chinese history, astronomers were in the service of the country - studying and interpreting heavenly phenomena. The Chinese divided the heavenly sphere into several hundred little constellations of one to ten stars. They used the so-called Lunar Zodiac that contained 28 xiu or homes of the Moon but also the Sun Zodiac. Myths concerned the stars and their naming. Heavenly processes were believed to influence the earthly. From China come the earliest observations of solar eclipses and comets. The earliest registered solar eclipse is dated in 720 BC. There are also records about ceremonies dedicated to solar eclipses. Halley's comet has been sighted and recorded since 12 BC at its every passage, but irregularly already since 240 BC. The very first comet descriptions come from 1057-1056 BC. Chinese chronology is based on imperial eras: the inauguration of every emperor started a new era. The Chinese lunar-solar calendar was improved via constant observations. Seasons were determined by the position of the Ursa Major at dawn. The length of synodic months at the time was 29.5 days and a topic year 366 days. A supplementary month was added according to a 19-year cycle. Chinese calendar achieved its contemporary form in 7th-10th centuries.
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Continued from Mäetagused 16. In many Bulsa narratives, death, the deceased and ghosts have the central role. The mourning festivities have an important place in Bulsa tradition, being held not after the funeral but at the earliest in the dry season following the death, but oftern only one or more years later. Mourning ceremonies and festivities are not elaborated on in Bulsa narratives. However, they display the attitude of the Bulsas: in proper families, the members of the family feel connected with the deceased person even after his or her death. Many Bulsa narratives emphasise that God must be believed in. Nobody can be killed against the intent of the God and God punishes those doubting its power. Bulsa narratives lack the sentimental happy end: evil and ingratitude are human vices that unavoidably lead to doom. In conclusion, Bulsa folk tales can be used as an additional source in relion studies. The narratives convey no information on the details elementary for the narrator and the characters are stereotypical, the situations expressing fictive circumstances nor directly relative to everyday life. Their value in religion ethnology lies mostly in that they mark the so-called neuralgic nodes of the religion and can be used to assess the ethos, values and attitudes of the community. They are authentic in that they relay religious information not induced by European concepts and questions by foreigners.
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Comparative mythology needs to consider two parallel pairs of twins. One is the pair of antagonistic twins, the other the Ashvin pair of twins found in the Vedas. Often they are treated only as simply a pair, the personification of fertility and prosperity. One of them is the cattle-breeder-twin and the other horseman-twin. In Roman mythology, the Ashvin twins are Castor and Pollux; in the Jewish legend, Esav and Jacob. The topic of the first birth of the twins is more clearly treated in the versions of the antagonistic twins. E.g. the zervanistic god of light Ohrmazd and god of darkness Ahriman; in Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus. Characteristic of the story of the antagonistic twins is the argument over which will become the ruler, i.e. they are royal twins and their royal descent is as important in their identification as their antagonism. Thus, the theogony peaking with the birth of the antagonistic twins is only applicable in a society ruled by a king.
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This material was first printed at the end of the 19th century. The censor Jüri (Georg) Truusmann (1856-1930) gives an overview of an ethnographic trip to the western part of Pihkva gubernya, the territory populated by Setus, in 1885. Attention is focused on the everyday life of the Setus. There is a strong Russian influence, but they have retained their Estonian nationality. Their national costumes, folklore, language, mentality and way of life have retained many archaic aspects lost elsewhere in Estonia. The language barrier with Russian-speaking educators is a problem in the area. Although attendance to the Orthodox church is dutiful, many noticeably pagan religious concepts have survived. There are home-held missas dedicated to idols. On certain holidays, sacrifice (foodstuff) is brought to holy places, both official and pagan. Often the donations are later claimed by paupers. There are also holidays celebrated commonly by the Setus and Russians.
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Die Vorderste Nachbarschaft in Zied verwahrte noch in den achtziger Jahren des vergangenen Jahrhunderts ein in blaues Papier eingeschlagenes Schulheft, das den Text eines bis zum Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts bei den Sachsen in ganz Siebenbürgen bekannten, dramatisierten und während der Faschingszeit aufgeführten Liedes/Spieles „Vom König und vom Tod“ beinhaltete. Der Vermerk auf dem Deckblatt nannte neben dem Titel das Jahr 1845 und den Namen des damaligen Altknechtes der Zieder Bruderschaft, Georg Homm (1825-1882), der die Aufzeichnung wohl zu Aufführungszwecken vorgenommen hatte.
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The 20th century meant for the Romanian folklore the beginning of a process which led it towards the collapse that other cultures (the Italian, French, English, German ones, etc.) had experienced two or three centuries ago: the process of its disappearance through integration into the general musical wave meant for consumption and entertainment, and partially through being used by composers in genres of the erudite music. This process started with the appearance of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Society (December 22, 1927). Broadcasting folklore by radio generated the new phenomenon of folklore consumption. This aspect triggered a shift of the accent from the daily folkloric performance within the process of developing diverse (household, agricultural, shepherding, etc.) activities by the peasants, which automatically involved the permanent functioning of the anonymous creative spirit that offered a profound individual satisfaction, onto (comfortable and passive) audition meant for (individual and collective) pleasure and enjoyment.
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A specific subspecies of the figurative phrases, as yet scarcely investigated by Lithuanian folklorists, gets introduced in this article – namely, the recasts of traditional proverbs, acquiring denomination of anti-proverbs by the international paremiological research. The author also discusses spheres of their creation and functioning, as well as attempting to establish their essential features and discern structural patterns of their formation. Creating parodies of traditional proverbs, their purposeful re-making (recasting, distortion) is an internationally well known and essentially not a very new phenomenon, enjoying enormous popularity, however, along with spread of the modern media technologies. The so-called anti-proverbs could be defined as purposefully created variants of traditional proverbs, wherein form and meaning of the traditional proverb get distorted in order to actualize some kind of idea or simply to achieve comical effect. According to the usage area, functions, and motivation of the re-making process, such recasts of Lithuanian traditional proverbs could provisionally be classified into “public” ones (made by the media or for advertising purposes), those belonging to the everyday speech, and playful ones (self-sufficient comical creations outside context). As a rule, the media uses anti-proverbs on purpose, in order to reflect some situation of the nowadays life. The key principle of their re-making in such instances is actualization, and the essential characteristics of such anti-proverbs – their high relevance. The Lithuanian anti-proverbs mostly tend to reflect political, economical, technological, scientific issues, less frequently – cultural and local ones. Such recasts of the proverbs are very short-living formations, being effective, incisive and attractive just as long as the situation they have been made to illustrate retains its importance. The so-called “relevant” anti-proverbs are possible to come upon also in the everyday speech; only here the issue they illustrate tends to be simpler, more down-to-earth and private. The anti-proverbs belonging to the everyday speech, or the daily level, usually are less ideologically charged than the “public” ones, being much simpler, and displaying softer kind of humor. The “daily” ones tend to be created just for fun, for entertainment and merry-making purposes, in order to demonstrate one’s wit and sense of humor. The so-called “playful” anti-proverbs usually do not aim at illustrating some concrete issue; they do not seem to perform any communicative function. Like in case of most “daily” anti-proverbs, their key-feature is playfulness: upon understanding the “rules of the game” one seems to be attempting to mess-up the traditional proverb as weirdly as possible, in order to achieve comical effect...
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