A spider in Russian folklore Cover Image

Pająk w folklorze rosyjskim
A spider in Russian folklore

Author(s): Agnieszka Gołębiowska-Suchorska
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warmińsko-Mazurskiego w Olsztynie
Keywords: spider;Russian folklore;

Summary/Abstract: The article is a synthesis of the research on a spider creation in Russian folklore as far thread mythologem is concerned. As traditional oral folk composition genres analysis proves there are spider relations to a sphere of sacrum. The spider, able to weave and move in all directions, is seen in fairy-tales as a saviour. The result of its activities is restoring of order in the world. Christian legends of aethiology show the spider as a trickster acting against God. In many genres of folk literature its web functions as a guide, saviour or liason between earth and heaven. Folk ideas connected with the spider stored in traditional folklore are genetically connected with mythological weaving-cosmogony idea and demiurge-weaver creation.

  • Issue Year: 2007
  • Issue No: XII
  • Page Range: 31-37
  • Page Count: 7
  • Language: Polish