Contemporary Recordings of Belarusian Folk Biblical and Non-Biblical Etiological Legends in the Comparative-Historical Aspect Cover Image

Contemporary Recordings of Belarusian Folk Biblical and Non-Biblical Etiological Legends in the Comparative-Historical Aspect
Contemporary Recordings of Belarusian Folk Biblical and Non-Biblical Etiological Legends in the Comparative-Historical Aspect

Author(s): Elena Boganeva
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Customs / Folklore, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Culture and social structure
Published by: Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum
Keywords: anthropogenic etiologies; etiological legend; etiologies of cosmogonic legends; folk Bible; folk biblical etiologies; folk narratives; non-biblical etiologies; vernacular Christianity;

Summary/Abstract: The article considers some rare etiologies in contemporary recordings – non-biblical cosmogonic and folk biblical anthropogenic etiologies in the comparative and historical aspect. Cosmogonic etiologies are stories about the predetermination of spatial and temporal parameters of the world (texts about the origins of the elements of the earthscape, in particular, mountains; about the agreement made between God and Satan concerning the distribution of ascendancy over people at the beginning of the world and at the end of it; about the determination of the time of the existence of the world and the change of time); about the structure of the current status of the Universe (the Earth is round, it revolves and is supported by a giant turtle or tortoise); about the primary entity or body, from which the following emerges: the world (out of a child’s body), a part of cultural space – a group of inhabited localities (out of a felled statue), and one of the primary elements – fire (out of a human). Anthropogenic folk biblical etiologies include stories about the origins of sexual relations between the first people (two versions); the birth of children out of different body parts (the head, through the side of the body); and the origins of hair on male bodies.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 72
  • Page Range: 59-88
  • Page Count: 30
  • Language: English