Filaret Kolessa - Researcher of Winter Calendar and Household Rituals (To the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of the Scientist)

The aim of the article is based on the analysis of ethnographic materials of Filaret Kolessa about the winter calendar-household rituals of Ukrainians, first of all from the work «People’s Beliefs in the Foothills, in the Village Khodovychi, Stryi District» (1898), to single out the main topics raised by this outstanding scientist. The urgency of the research topic is due to the fact that F. Kolessa is considered primarily as an ethnomusicologist and folklorist, while his ethnographic explorations and ethnological studies remain less known among historians and ethnologists. Instead, the work of the scientist, devoted to the phenomena of traditional and everyday culture, in particular, the calendar and everyday rituals of Ukrainians is important for the analysis of their everyday life and mentality. As a result of the research conducted by the author, it was established that the issue of calendar and household rituals F. Kolessa touched upon in the work «People’s Beliefs in the Foothills, in the Village Khodovychi, Stryi District», written on the basis of field materials from his family village. It is claimed that of the holidays of the winter cycle, only the Holy Evening (January 6) is described in this investigation, but in its context the holiday of Malania (January 13) and the New Year (January 14) are also mentioned. The range of issues covered by F. Kolessa on the basis of the given materials (various spheres of rites, their motives, etc.) is investigated. A comparative analysis of information from the work «People’s Beliefs in the Foothills, in the Village Khodovychi, Stryi District» and field ethnographic materials recorded in Khodovychi in 2019 by researchers Veronika Volovyk and Roman Tarnavskyi was conducted. These results allowed us to draw the following conclusions: 1. Ethnographic exploration of F. Kolessa «People’s beliefs in the foothills, in the village. Khodovychi of Stryi district» is an important source for studying the winter calendar and household rituals of Ukrainians in the local dimension (on the example of one settlement). 2. Describing the Holy Evening as one of the main holidays of the winter cycle, F. Kolessa highlighted the important issues of various areas of its rituals: subject sphere — kutia, bread, sheaf of oats, hay, iron objects, garlic, coins, etc.); promotional sphere — in particular, divination; verbal sphere — verbal accompaniment of rituals, as well as folk names to describe various cultural realities, for example: Christmas sheaf — «did», Christmas hay — «baba», ceremonial bread — «Malanka» and «Vasyl’», etc.; personal sphere — the role of the host, hostess or other family members in certain customs and rituals. 3. F. Kolessa also clearly testified to the presence of economic and funeral motives in Christmas Eve customs and rites on specific examples.

Source: Romaniv M. (2021). Filaret Kolessa - Researcher of Winter Calendar and Household Rituals (To the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of the Scientist). Scientific and Theoretical Almanac Grani. 24(9): 14-21

Source web-site: https://grani.org.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/1688/1664