Immaterial Heritage

Traditional worldviews of the Perechyn region population

Earth. In traditional beliefs, it appeared as an almost infinite space lying in deep waters. They treated the ground with great respect, because it not only fed a person and gave everything necessary for life, but also took him into his bosom after death. One of the most terrible curses was: «Obisz virh zymli obstav» (It means, that a person would stay on ground after death); «Zymlia bi tya ne prinyala» (the ground would not accept), they believed that the ground will not accept great sinners.

According to popular belief, the ground is alive, holy and good. Therefore, it cannot be beaten, because it hurts, and after sunset in ancient times people did not work with the ground: «As the sun sets, the ground wants to rest». The land was given rest from St. Michael feast day (21.11), until St. Yuri feast day (06.05), according to one of the stories, that we recorded in the Perechyn region: «The poor boy betrothed a rich girl, and he was asked if he had land, the boy took them to the shore and said: «This shore is ours from Michael to Yuri». And at that time nobody works with the ground». Somewhere from the beginning of XX century, the holiday after which the spring field work began, is the Annunciation (07.04), because of certain climate changes. After the Annunciation, people also began to graze cattle and say: «As a sheep is fed on the Annunciation, so will an ox be fed on Yuri».

The Holy Land does not tolerate the shedding of human blood. At the place where a person was killed, it is «forbidden» to build houses, outbuildings, spend the night or stop for rest, because it is an unfavourable place. The land also does not tolerate bad treatment: «My father told me that on Easter, one man was plowing with oxen and said to himself: «Plow the oxen, plow, because today is the great day» and fell to the ground».

In the Perechyn region, the ground was traditionally treated as holy, alive, as a mother , «that is our mother», who gives life and punishes sinners.

Water. Traditional beliefs associated it with the cleansing action, holiness. However, often a certain relationship with water, rivers, springs, have the devil. It was believed that demonic beings could be present in water reservoirs, so people did not drink water from springs without crossing both themselves and the spring.

In high esteem were «Vaiduski stuyniki» (Vaiduski wells), «syacheni potoki» (sacred streams), «hustsova water», which had significant healing properties. The water where two streams merge into one,  was also considered special: «From the city where two rivers converge, people would take a bucket of water, saying: «Yak sya skhodyatʹ dvi riky, Tak by sya skhodyly, Takyy-to z takov–to…» (it can be translated like: «Young people should merge into family, like two rivers merge in one»).

The water where the three rivers converge was used to treat asthma, the patient was washed with this water, it was important to tell a special words during process. Consecrated water, on the days of great religious holidays, was attributed with magical powers, it was sprinkled on houses, livestock, family members. Thus, in the Perechyn region, it was believed that: «On Jordan (Epiphany), it is possible to wash oneself from any disease, but only for those, who would say, during washing: «Vodytsʹo Yordanytsʹo, Obmyvayesh hory i doly, Obmyy i mene od vsyakoho bolyu». (it can be translated like: «Holy water, you wash mountains and valley, wash me from pain».

Fire. Fire was also sacred, and traditional beliefs endowed it with both protective and cleansing functions. Before lighting the fire in the furnace, the hostess said: «Lord God help», if the fire did not want to ignite, then they said: «Hory ohne bo tya zohne…» (It can be translated like: «Burn, or you would never burn again»). When handling fire it was necessary to follow a number of rules as follows:

«It is forbidden to throw garbage or blood, because it burns and goes with the smoke to heaven, and the sky must be clear»; «Do not mix fire and water, because fire and water have their own angel».

On the night of Ivan Kupala (07.07) in some places of Perechyn region, before 20th century, was a tradition of lighting a fire and jumping over it: «Here under the forest, I was told how grown-up boys lit a fire on Jan and jumped over it until the morning».

The dream in which someone saw the fire, was not considered good: «if you dreamed about the fire it is for the future pain».

Sky. There was an idea of the heavenly world as an unearthly space, the abode of saints, angels, God, those who entered the kingdom of heaven: «There are seven heavens, on the seventh God». Heaven was often referred to as God and it was believed that on certain days, such as Holy Evening, Christmas, Easter, the sky «opens» and wishes can come true: «Nebo sya znalo odkryvaty, moyuy mami sya odkrylo, na Syatyy Vychur. Pered samov vechyrʹov u potuk sya khodyly myty, a maty ostannya yshla i kazhe zhe nad Zernavov sya nebo odkrylo, ta taka zaryabola»; «Bola zhona duzhe khuda, a koly sya odkrylo yuy nebo ta prosyla sobi zheby sya popravyla, ta taka stala, sho na dvyri ne hodna byla staty»; «Yeden cholovik chekav koly sya odkryye nebo, ta cherez oblak pozerav. Davno lyudy to znaly lipshe, koly to sya nebo odkryvatʹ, ta khotiv maty slavu, a shatovav povisty, bo to sya nebo skoro zakryvatʹ, ta poviv ne velyku slavu, a velyku hlavu. Ta taka mu holova stala, sho cherez oblak ne prolizala ta musily prorubuvaty v stini». These are the sayings about how the sky opened and people asked for everything they wanted, like one skinny woman asked to gain weight, so she became so big,  so she couldn’t get through the door. In ancient times, people knew better when the sky opened. One man hurried to say that he wanted glory, and instead of the word «glory» he said «head», and he had such a big head after, that they had to cut a passage in the wall.

Most of all, only the righteous could see the «opening» of heaven, and were advised not to ask for anything but health. It was also quite common to believe that some people who «froze» for a while visited «that world», «were in heaven», where they met with the dead, who told about their lives in «the other world», which, according to a number of legends, resembled the life on the Earth.

Sun. A significant role in the traditional beliefs in Perechyn region, was played by the honoration of the Sun and the Moon. The sun symbolized life-giving power, joy, goodness. The period between sunset and sunrise was considered especially dangerous, so a number of rules were followed: «pozad toho yak zayshlo sontse nykoho ne klychutʹ do khizhi, oby ne pryklykaty nechystu sylu»; «yak zayshlo sontse ne vunosyatʹ smitya z khizhi, oby ne vuverychy z nym i spokuy, dostatok»; «yak sontse zayshlo nych ne zychavut»; «vychur kupilʹ pozad dityny na dvur ne vulyvavut». (It was forbidden to invire someone to the house; take trash or borrow anything after the sunset).

An echo of ancient worldview beliefs is the personification of the sun, moon, stars, wind and other natural phenomenon. Inhabitants of Perechyn region take their traditions, beliefs, customs, rituals seriously.

Moon. In the full moon, some saw a human face, others Cain who killed his brother Abel, some even saw there as «the godfather kill another godfather». The moon, especially its phase had a significant impact on agricultural work and human health. So for a full moon: «ne sadyly pasolyu, bo bude lem tsvit, a ne lopatky»; «u pershu pyatnytsyu novoho misyatsya ne mosh krumpli sadyty, bo bude lem tsvit»; «konopli siyaly na povnyy misyatsʹ zheby bov urozhay, a kitʹ na slabyy misyatsʹ ta slabi, tonkoy bylya». (It was forbidden to plant beans and forbidden to plant hemp on «weak» moon, only on full moon, so the harvest would be good).

When a new moon appeared in the sky, they bowed to him and whispered, asking for health: «You would have a full moon, and I would have a good health». When the moon waned, it was considered the best time warts treatment: «Who had warts and should take an old bush and lubricate the warts with it».

On the moon, the sun, the stars, and in general in the sky, it was forbidden to poke a finger, stick, knife, etc. If there was a need to show something, it was showed with all hand. The weather was predicted with the moon: «When the horns are up in the moon, it is for the good weather, or in the winter for the frost, when the horns are down, it is for the rain».

Stars. A sky full of stars was a kind of reflection of the earth's surface, life on earth, as evidenced by the names of individual stars and constellations: comet - a dead man, «bushes», «plow» - the constellation Orion, «hen with chicks» - the constellation Taurus, «cart» - the constellation Ursa Major. The stars in folk beliefs were directly connected with the life of each person, so when a child is born, a new candle is lit in the sky - a star. When a person dies, his candle of life goes out and the star falls to the ground.

Thunder and lightning. Echoes of the ancient Slavic cult of Perun, the God of thunder and war, have been preserved in the Perechyn region. So even now, especially the older generation, they know about such a curse as: «Perun would hit you» and «Perun would beat her». Thunder was perceived as a punishing force of God, for example, like in the story about Petro Tsitsik, who drove cattle for lunch and was singing very loudly, and the thunder have killed him. People ran and buried him to the neck in a ground, it was believed, that it may bring him back to life, but it didn’t. They said that his mother told him that thunder would kill him, because of his behavior, as a child. At the same time, the thunder was associated with harvest, heavenly moisture and yield: «Before the first thunder, it was forbidden to works with the ground, when it had already thundered, the ground was deaf, and people began to plow and plant».

To the little children, so that they would not be afraid of thunder and lightning, they have a saying: «God carries the cakes, but the cart overturns and the cakes fall down the shore,so it thunders». At the first thunder they touched the stone to the head and said: «Stone head», which was to protect against headaches throughout the year, and the saying: «Tohdabym sya boyav hromu, yak zayatsʹ lomu» (I would be afraid of thunder when the rabbit would be afraid of brick), was to help to overcome fear.

References and literature:

1. Recorded on December 6, 2019 in the village of Zarichevo from Tryanchych Maria, born in 1944
2. Recorded on December 3, 2019 in the village of Zarichevo from Loshak Ksenia Yosypivna, born in 1945
3. Recorded on December 6, 2019 in the village of Zarichevo from Shcherbanych Fedor Vasyliovych, born in 1946
4. Recorded on April 18, 2013 in the village of Simerky from Opalenyk Tetyana Stankivna, born in 1975
5. Recorded on March 19, 2006 in the village of Rakovo from Stegur Kateryna Mykolayivna, born in 1916
6. Recorded on July 3, 2014 in the village of Turya Pasika from King Elizabeth Mikhailovna, born in 1934
7. Recorded on April 15, 2013 in the village of Turya Pasika from Konyuk Maria Vasylivna, born in 1965
8. Recorded on March 13, 2016 in the village of Turya Pasika from Tovtyn Anna Petrovna, born in 1939
9. Varhol N. «Folk knowledge of Ukrainian-Ruthenian Slovakia. Folk art and ethnology»: Kiev. 2012
10. Kirchev R.F. «Worldviews and beliefs. Hutsul region»: historical and ethnographic research. Kyiv, 1987
11. Kirchеv R.F. «Traditional worldview, beliefs and folk demonology. Ukrainian Carpathians. Culture» Kiev:, 1989
12. Plotnikova A. «Stars. Slavic antiquities: Ethnolinguistic dictionary in 5 volumes»: Moscow, 1999
13. Potushnyak F. «Demons of fate»: Uzhhorod, 1940
14. Potushnyak F. «Earth, water and air (in the folk belief)»: Uzhhorod, 1942
15. Potushnyak F. «Fire in folk beliefs»: Uzhhorod, 1941
16. Tivodar M.P. «Ethnography of Transcarpathia: Historical and ethnographic essay»: Uzhhorod, 2011
17. Tolstoy N.I. «Slavic antiquities: Ethnolinguistic dictionary in 5 volumes»: Moscow, 1995.