Поетична символіка хліба в укранїньському обрядовому фолькльорі
THE POETIC SYMBOLISM OF BREAD IN UKRAINIAN FOLKLORE OF RITUALS

Summary/Abstract: Bread has long been a symbol of the spirituality, moral purity and inner culture of the Ukrainian people. In Ukrainian folklore the symbolism of bread is connected with, among others, the cult of the sun and the moon. The round shape of bread, resembling that of the sun, is symbolic in itself. The cult of a symbolic deity of a. new rich harvest is the source of the Christmas custom of bringing into the house a sheaf of corn, such as wheat. Certain songs exhibit a mythological symbol of bread in the system of the ‘astral trinity’, an old pagan as well as a new Christian one.In order to demonstrate the inner poetic meaning of the symbolism of bread in Ukrainian folklore, the author has analyzed numerous Ukrainian ritual songs connected with particular periods in the calendar of rituals. These include Christmas and New Year wishing songs (koladki and shchedrivki), songs of the week before Lent, songs associated with Easter (vesnyanki), those sung on Whit Sunday (rusalne pisni) or on the night of the summer solstice (kupalne pisni), songs connected with St. Peter and Paul’s day (petrivchane pisni), songs of harvest and harvest home, as well as those sung at. wedding receptions, valuable for their lich content.

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