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Representations about life cycle and the traditions connected to it

2.1. Ancient representations about a birth, death and the introduction into a marriage

The concept of life cycle includes the most important stages of human life, such as birth and childhood, marriage and death, and traditions of life cycle are understood as the traditions directly connected to these events. In a basis of the majority of traditions the idea of transition between the worlds that is made by the person being born, dying or marrying. The feature of these Russian traditions synthesis of pagan and Christian elements is a specific one.

The birth is represented as arrival of the child to the terrestrial world and is considered to be the beginning of a new life in another world.

Circumstances of a birth of the child allow defining his destiny, therefore frequently speaking, that the child was born under the lucky star, as stars were perceived as a receptacle of souls died, but at the same time and as a symbol of the female beginning, and also contacted a prediction of the future. But the most known are the representations, connected to unusual circumstances of coming of the baby into the world, for example, so called “birth in a shirt”.

There are some versions of an origin of these representations. The first is connected to the fact that sometimes children are born « in a shirt » - with the bubble that covers a body or a head of a newborn child. The Russian call this environment "a shirt". It is considered, that the person who has been born in "a shirt" will be very happy and successful all his life. It is connected to that that in an antiquity people saw magic links between the person and his clothes, and the word "clothes" is historically connected to such concepts, as hope and destiny.

Besides the social factor also takes place here, because 1) adult people wear clothes, therefore the child who has been given birth « in a shirt », is not a usual child, but one from the world of ancestors; 2) a newborn child will be successful, as he was born not naked, as all children, but already in clothes (as in poor families not all children had a clothes, "shirt" was considered a symbol of well-being).

There is also an explanation connected to ancient religious representations about the spirit-keeper. When the soul descends on the ground to take up human shape, it is followed by its spirit-keeper; in the beginning it stays in a shirt sometimes it happens that it is twisted around a head of a newborn child.

Mention of an essence assisting to the child to proceed in our world, have found reflection and in a traditional explanation of where children come from (the stork has brought).

The marriage was also considered to be a transition from one world into another, as a new birth of the girl for a life in the other world. Earlier pre-wedding traditions, such as the offer and engagement had great value. So, before the introduction into a marriage it was necessary to ask the parents of the bride for a hand of the daughter and sometimes the bride herself for her agreement.



Funeral traditions also reflect representations about transition of soul of the dead into another world and are connected to various aspects of this transition. For example, it is accepted to bear the dead from a house legs forward so that it could not find the way home, put a wineglass of vodka and bread because 40 more days the soul is on the ground.


Date: 2015-02-03; view: 1025


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