Long­-Standing Ukrainian Feast of St. Simeon Stylites within Conventional Customary and Ritual Culture

Author

Stishova Nataliya – a Ph.D. in History, an academic secretary of the NASU M. Rylskyi IASFE

Long-­Standing Ukrainian Feast of St. Simeon Stylites within Conventional Customary and Ritual Culture

Abstract

The article enlightens conventional customs and rites of the long-standing Ukrainian feast of St. Simeon Stylites as a spiritual culture’s phenomenon mirrored in calendar holidays of autumnal cycle. There is also a presentation of colourfulness and diversity of the feast’s conventional rituals, as well as an observation of its state of safety within Ukrainian folk culture. From confessional sources, the study fragmentarily gives a material on St. Simeon Stylites’s life. The commencement of the church Indiction, and therefore the Liturgical Year, is associated with the feast day in religious calendar.

Among people, the day of St. Simeon’s feast, formerly called Litoprovodets (One Who Sees Off Summer), is related with changes in people’s environment, life and manners and customs (in nature, household, rituals and customs, etc.), that is to say, this feast has the meaning of transitional rites. To that kind of life changes of transitional nature belong the following: initiations (of both princelings and later Cossacks, and afterwards – of aged youngsters); the inception of work of artisanal masters (weavers, cart-wrights, joiners, blacksmiths and others); the completion of all business and trade deals; the termination of Vulytsi (street gatherings and amusements); and the beginning of Vechornytsi (indoor get-togethers). The latter were the principal nuclei of rural youth socialization, where lasses and lads had opportunity to be better acquainted with the opposite sex, to master the bearings and behavior patterns being characteristic of grown-ups, and to obtain certain knowledge and experience in the sphere of mutual relations.

The article presents the customary and ritual tradition related to honouring the fire – the ignition of the first flame (Candle’s wedding), as well as the pre-Christian ritual actions of observing the Candle’s Holiday, which occurred on Kyiv’s Podil and whose scenario has remained since the Middle Ages.

In relation to St. Simeon’s feast, there exists, among people, diverse variants of legends on birds and insects; therefore, the feast is also called the feast of swallows and sparrows.

Keywords

St. Simeon’s feast, holiday, ritual, custom, Candle’s wedding, ritual actions, vechornytsi (get-together – a pastime on evenings), initiations.

References

1. NAS of Ukraine’s M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Erthnology. Archival Scientific Funds of Manuscripts and Audio-Recordings (thereafter – IASFE ASFMAR): f. 1: Ethnographic Committee of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, u.i. 621, inv. 6, 167 sheets [in Ukrainian].
2. IASFE ASFMAR: f. 15‑1, i. 47, 259 sheets [in Ukrainian].
3. IASFE ASFMAR: f. 15‑3, i. 153, 12 sheets [in Ukrainian].
4. IASFE ASFMAR: f. 43, i. 166, inv. 5, 93 sheets [in Ukrainian].
5. BALUSHOK, Vasyl. Initiation Rituals of the Ukrainians and Ancient Slavs. Lviv: Vyd-vo M. P. Kots, 1998, 215 pp., ill. [in Ukrainian].
6. BERNSHTAM, Tatiana. Youth in Context of Ritual Activities of the XIXth – Early XXth–Century Russian Community. An Age-and-Gender Aspect of Conventional Culture. Leningrad: Nauka’s Leningrad Department, 1988, 277 pp. [in Russian].
7. BONDARENKO, Halyna. From a Boy to a Man… Chronicle-2000. Our Lands, 1993, 1–2 (3–4), p. 247 [in Ukrainian].
8. BONDARENKO, Halyna. Soil is Being Closed for Winter…: Holidays, Rites, and Traditions of September. The Human and the World, 1991, 8, pp. 13–14 [in Ukrainian].
9. BONDARENKO, Halyna. Ukrainian Ethno-Culture in the Context of Globalization Challenges. Ed. by Hanna SKRYPNYK. Kyiv: M. Rylskyi IASFE of NAS of Ukraine, 2014, 226 pp., 23 ill. [in Ukrainian].
10. BORZHKOVSKYI, Valerian. Lads as a Special Group in the Lesser Russian Rural Community. The Kyivan Past, 1887, vol. 8 [in Ukrainian].
11. BORYSENKO, Valentyna. Folk Calendar of September. Science and Society, 1991, 8, 76–77 [in Ukrainian].
12. BORYSENKO, Valentyna. Familial Rituals of the Ukrainians in the XXth to Early XXIst Centuries. by Hanna SKRYPNYK. Kyiv: M. Rylskyi IASFE of NAS of Ukraine, 2016, 256 pp., 80 ill. [in Ukrainian].
13. BORYSENKO, Valentyna. Ethnic Traditions and Vital Activities: After the Materials of Festive and Ritual Culture of the Ukrainians. Kyiv: Univers, 2000, 190 pp. [in Ukrainian].
14. VOROPAY, Oleksa. Folk Customs of Our People: An Ethnographic Essay. Kyiv: AVPT Oberih, 1991, vols. 1–2 [in Ukrainian].
15. HRUSHEVSKYI, Mykhaylo. The History of Ukrainian Literature: in Six Volumes, Nine Books. Compiled by V. YAREMENKO, prefaced by P. KONONENKO, annotated by L. DUNAYEVSKA. Kyiv: Lybid, 1993, vol. 1, 392 pp. [in Ukrainian].
16. DYKAREV, Mytrofan. Gatherings of Rural Youth in Ukraine. In: Materials for Ukrainian Ethnology, 1918, vol. 18, 189 pp. [in Ukrainian].
17. The Encyclopedia of Ukraine: in Two Parts. The General Part (EU–I). Munich, Vipol, 1949, vol. 1, 400 pp. [in Ukrainian].
18. IVANOV, V., ed., Activities and Creation of Peasants of Kharkiv Governorate. Starobilske District. Essays on Ethnography of the Region. Kharkov: Izd. Gub. Stat. Komiteta, 1898, vol. 1, 1012 pp. [in Russian].
19. ZIABLIUK, N. Evening Gatherings (Vechornytsi). The Soviet School Education, 1989, 2, 75 [in Ukrainian].
20. IVANOV, Piotr. Activities and Beliefs of Peasants of Kupiansk District, Kharkov Governorate. In: The Collection of the Kharkov Historical and Philological Society. Kharkov: Pechatnoye delo, 1907, vol. 17, 216 pp. [in Russian].
21. ILYINSKIY, Grigoriy. From the History of Ancient Slavonic Pagan Beliefs. An Edition of the Society for Archeology, History, and Ethnography. Kazan: Kazan University, 1929, vol. 34, iss. 3–4 [in Russian],
22. KYLYMNYK, Stepan. The Ukrainian Year in Light of Folk Customs in the Historical Perspective. Winnipeg: Ukrainian National Publishing Committee, 1963, vol. 5: The Autumnal Cycle, 288 pp. [in Ukrainian].
23. KIS, Oksana. Representation of Ukrainian Rural Youth in the Context of Gender Distinctions. 2001 [online]. Available from: http://www.ji.lviv.ua/n24texts/kis-oksana.htm [in Ukrainian].
24. KOZHOLIANKO, Oleksandr. On September Folklore Festivals of Bukovyna. The Ethnology Notebooks, 2015, 1, 121–126 [in Ukrainian].
25. KOSTASHCHUK, Vasyl. Lad’s Community of the Village of Tulova, in Pokuttia (Halychyna). Manners and Customs, 1929, pts. 4–5 [in Ukrainian].
26. KUROCHKIN, Oleksandr. Festive Year of the Ukrainians (From the Times of Yore to the Present). Bila Tserkva: Oleksandr Pshonkivskyi Publisher, 2014, 385 pp. [in Ukrainian].
27. MYLORADOVYCH, Vasyl. Folk Rites and Songs of Lubny District, Poltava Governorate, Recorded over 1888–1895. In: The Collection of the Kharkov Historical and Philological Society. Kharkov, 1907, vol. 16 [in Russian].
28. OHIYENKO, Ivan. Pre-Christian Beliefs of the Ukrainian People: A Historical and Religious-Study Monograph. Kyiv: Oberehy, 1991, 424 pp. [in Ukrainian].
29. PONOMARIOV, Anatoliy. Premarital Communication of Young People. In; Lidiya ARTIUKH, Vsevolod NAULKO, Zoriana BOLTAROVYCH, et al. Podillia: A Historical and Ethnographic Study. Kyiv: Dolia, 1994, pp. 160–175 [in Ukrainian].
30. The Dictionary of Symbols. Kyiv: Editorial Board of the Narodoznavstvo Periodical, 1997, 156 pp. [in Ukrainian].
31. SUMTSOV, Nikolay. Autumnal and Hibernal Evening and Nocturnal Gatherings. Kiev, 1886 [in Russian].
32. SUMTSOV, Nikolay. Symbolism of Slavonic Rituals. In: Nikolay SUMTSOV. The Selected Works. Moscow: Vostochnaya literatura RAN, 1996, 298 pp. [in Russian].
33. TOPOROV, Vladimir. Cock. In: Sergey TOKAREV, ed.-in-chief, The Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. Moscow, 1992, vol. 2 [in Russian].
34. Ukrainian Studies. Culture and Mode of Life of the Ukrainians. Svitylka as a Mythical Creature [online]. Available from: org.ua /2012/01/01/світилка-як-міфічна-істота/ [in Ukrainian].
35. NAS of Ukraine’s V. Vernadskyi Central Scientific Library, Manuscripts Department: f. 11, u.i. 22907, 9 sheets [in Ukrainian].
36. CHUBINSKIY, Pavel. Proceedings of the Ethnographic-Statistical Expedition to the West Russian Krai. Saint Petersburg, 1872, vol. 3, 488 pp. [in Russian].
37. SHUKHEVYCH, Volodymyr. Hutsulshchyna. Part 4. In: Khvedir VOVK, ed., Materials for Ukrainian-Ruthenian Ethnology. Lviv, 1904, vol. 7, 272 pp. [in Ukrainian].
38. YASTREBOV, Vladimir. Materials on Ethnography of the New Russia Krai, Collected in Yelisavetgrad and Aleksandriya Districts (Kherson Governorate). Odessa, 1894 [in Russian].