Some Customs of After-Sunday Wedding Celebrations in Sumy Region (the Mid to Third Quarter of the XXth Century)

Author

Havrylenko Viktoriya

a postgraduate at Philosophy Subdepartment of the Sumy State University, a head of Intangible Cultural Heritage Department of the Sumy Regional Methodological Centre for Culture and Arts

Some Customs of After-Sunday Wedding Celebrations in Sumy Region (the Mid to Third Quarter of the XXth Century)

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the peculiarities of wedding celebrations since Monday in Sumy region villages in the second half of the XX century. Some ancient wedding customs are vigorous at that time. Sunday is considered to be the main wedding day, that’s why it is the day of the basic rituals. At the same time, the customs of the period since Monday, i. e. final phase of the traditional wedding are of a great interest.

So the purpose of this article is to describe the customs of after-Sunday wedding celebration used in Sumy region in the middle – third quarter of the XX century. The research is based on the field materials got during ethnographical expeditions to the villages of Sumy region, in particular Okhtyrka, Krasnopillia, Sumy, Nedryhailiv, Buryn and Konotop districts.

The works of ethnographers P. Lytvynova-Bartosh and P. Hnidych are reviewed in the first part of the article. They have described fully wedding celebrations in some villages of Poltava and Chernihiv provinces (now these localities belong to Sumy region). The peculiarities of the wedding celebrations since Monday at the middle of XIXth – early XXth centuries are considered briefly. It is noticed that some local variants of customs fixed by the ethnographers in the villages of Zemlianka (Hlukhiv district) and Batsmany (Romny district) have existed at the adjacent and distant territories of the region in the middle – the third quarter of the XX century.

The main part of the article is dedicated to the description of the customs of the after-Sunday stage according to the respondents reminiscences. Among the customs used in Sumy region, the most general and widespread are revealed. Some local differences of the breakfast custom are fixed. They concern to the person who should bring breakfast to the bride. This task is entrusted to the bridesmaids, young maidens and lads (Khmelivka, Dukhanivka); to the brothers, sisters and bridesmaids (Klepaly, Khukhra); to the bridesmaids and people who transport bride’s trunk in Sunday (Vilshana); to the older persons and wedding guests (Komyshi); to the parents and relatives of a bride (Lantrativka).

The parents rolling is one of the widespread customs of the wedding stage since Monday. This custom is similar in different villages: guests roll parents on the handcart or sleigh and turn them over to the river or pool. The home sweeping is recollected quite frequently. It has been carried out on Monday or Tuesday. This custom means symbolical sweeping the bride out her parent’s home (Pisky) or teaching her to housekeeping (Klepaly, Khmelivka). The ritual bread (chiefly korovai, in Khukhra – kalach) division and wine drinking on Monday can be referred to significant customs. On Sunday wine is situated on the tables in small bottles decorated with ears. The rye threshing is also mentioned as another custom of the after-Sunday rituals.

The so-called perezva (alternate visiting of new relatives by the guests) and tsyhanshchyna (mumming and walking around the village) are two widespread customs of the wedding celebration since Monday. The disguised guests come from one yard to another and gather provision, catch poultry. Then they cook dinner.

The after-Sunday wedding celebration of the middle – third quarter of the XX century in Sumy region villages includes a number of customs. These are breakfast, sweeping the rooms out, rolling of the parents, threshing the rye, korovai division and wine drinking, tsyhanshchyna and parents visiting by the newly married couple among the most important of them. The further local ethnographical expeditions are necessary for the creation of more detailed description of the after-Sunday wedding celebration.

Keywords

wedding guests, breakfast, wedding wine, celebration since Monday, tsyhanshchyna.

References

1. Hnedich, P. (1915) Materials on Folk Literature of the Poltava Governorate. Romny District. Issue 1. Ritual Songs. Poltava, 150 pp.
2. Lytvynova-Bartosh, P. (1900) Wedding Rituals and Customs in the Village of Zemlianka (Hlukhiv District, Chernyhivshchyna). Materials for Ukrainian-Ruthenian Ethnology. An Edition of the Ethnographic Commission under the Editorship of Khv. Vovk. Lviv, Vol. III, pp. 70–173.