Livestock Trade of the Volynians: Customs and Beliefs

Author

POZHODZHUK DMYTRO

a postgraduate at Ethnology Department of the Ivan Franko Lviv National University. Scientific interests: cattle breeding in traditional customary and ritual culture of the Volynians.

LIVESTOCKTRADEOFTHEVOLYNIANS: CUSTOMSANDBELIEFS

Abctract

Traditional cattle breeding hitherto has not been studied enough by Ukrainian ethnologists. Elements of spiritual culture, which nowadays have survived better than phenomena of material culture are worthy of a particular attention. The submitted article considers customs, rituals and beliefs of the Volynians related to trade of domestic animals. The research is prepared on the basis of field ethnographic materials, collected by the author himself in Vinnytsia, Volyn, Zhytomyr, and Rivne regions. There is also factographic material taken from published sources and literature.

Livestock trade has always been of great importance for Ukrainian peasants, particularly from historic and ethnographic Volyn. Volynians used to sell it at markets. Over the last decades, domestic animals are often sold directly from cattleshed. Unlike cows, horses and small cattle, pigs are still traded in at fairs. If a buyer takes an animal from homestead, then he was to follow a set of certain rules. First of all, he is not to enter a cattleshed. At the same time, he can inspect the animal offered for sale. Upon successful bargaining of an expensive animal (e.g. horse), a seller and a buyer have a good time wetting the bargain. Purchase agreements are usually made by men.

It was customary during the cattle trade to throw money for good luck (na talan). The money had a specific purpose. In Volyn, a buyer left it to a seller in order them to make him happy, wealthy, and healthy. This money was a certain percentage of an amount a buyer paid to an owner for the purchased animal, and their denominations depended largely on the value of the animal. The money was delivered from hand to hand, thrown under the forefeet of the animal, left in a cattleshed, and so on. In southeastern outlying areas of historical and ethnographic Volyn (northern parts of Vinnytsia Region), a coin was thrown from flap to flap, and the side it would fall was very important. Without such money for good luck (na talan), the process of transferring an animal to a buyer was impossible.

The rope with the help of which the purchased cattle was led from the previous owner was mostly owned by a buyer. A seller did not give cattle with a rope, because after that, according to popular beliefs, he could find it difficult to raise livestock. For the same reason, a pig was bought with its own sack. In a word, a buyer should provide himself in advance with a rope for horses, cows, sheep and goats, as well as a bag for pigs.

Volynians undertook a whole set of measures for the cattle to be raised. In particular, while selling an animal, a tiny part of a tail or a little bunch of wool was left in a cattleshed. A particular notice was taken to being convinced of the fact that the purchased cattle would not escape to the previous owner. An owner was not supposed in any way to regret for the sold animal, as it could do much harm to its productivity at a new place.

In general, customs, rituals and beliefs on the territory of historic and ethnographic Volyn related to the buying and selling of livestock are not distinguished by any local specificity. For the most part, they correspond to homologous all‑Ukrainian and all-Slavonic phenomena.

Keywords

ethnology, ethnographic Volhynia, owner, buyer, money for luck, sack, rope, domestic animals, cattleshed.

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