GROUPS OF VOTIVE CROSSES ONSHORE THE WHITE SEA: PREDICTIVE AND TEMPORAL ASPECTS OF RITUAL PRACTICES IN THE VILLAGE OF SHUERETSKOE OF BELOMORSK DISTRICT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KARELIA ELENA SAMOYLOVA

Скачать pdf
Альманах
Key words
Pomeranians, votive crosses, ritual practices, votive gifts
Author
ELENA SAMOYLOVA
About the Author
ELENA SAMOYLOVA
E-mail: etnograd@mail.ru
Тel.: +7 (812) 571-29-47
2 “A”, Glinki str., St. Petersburg, 190000, Russian Federation
Leading expert, Center of Folklore and Ethnography named after A. M. Mekhnetsov, St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov
Body

Groups of sacred crosses, which play an important role in cultural traditions of the Pomeranian Russian population, were observed during field work 2008–2010 at the Belomorsk district of the Republic of Karelia (Pomeranian coast of the White Sea) in Nyukhcha and Shueretskoe the villages. In this paper the author considers such sacred objects, as: crosses nearby houses of villagers, a cross at the mouth of the river of Shuya (the sacred complex called “Crosses”), the Great cross at the cemetery and memorial crosses for destroyed churches. Author’s attention is focused on practices related with honoring of sacred places. Votive gifts left to crosses by women (items of clothing, icon veils) attract particular interest. Substantive projections of ritual practices allow to track schemes of spatial moving of the gift and to find answers to the questions connected with functionality of sacred objects. In cases when intercessions were related with production activities, votive gifts were left at the cross of Shuya the river’s mouth or at cros ses situated within the village nearby residents’ houses. When one prayed for health for herself or near and dear ones, women brought textile items and meals to the Great Cross at the cemetery. Votive objects can be considered as a gender marker. Female gifts on crosses represent “traces” of women’s ritual practices which demonstrate usage of a sacred object by female group. Crosses, control of which is exercised by men’s group, are located far from the settlement, on islands and shallows of the White Sea. As a rule, they remain without fabric items — “naked”. Data of field materials allow to note the changes that have taken place in cultural tradition of Pomeranians during a period of hundred years (the beginning of the 20th — the beginning of the 21st century): homespun textile items on crosses are replaced with factory fabrics, domestic pastries are replaced with confectionery bought in shops (candies, cookies); collective is replaced with individual; elements from other ritual practices appear in practices of honoring the sacred crosses, etc.

References

Bayburin A. K. (1993) Ritual v traditsionnoy kul’ture. Strukturno-semanticheskiy analiz vostochnoslavyanskikh obryadov [Ritual in Traditional Culture. Structural-Semantic Analysis of the East-Slavic Rituals]. St. Petersburg. In Russian.

Belyaev A. V. (1997) O krestakh Severa Rossii [About the Crosses of the North of Russia]. Nauka i biznes na Murmane [Science and Business at Murman. Sc.-practical journal]. Murmansk. 1997. No. 2. Pp. 7–22. In Russian.

Chistov K. V. (1986) Narodnye traditsii i fol’klor [Folk Traditions and Folklore]. Leningrad. In Russian.

Churakova N. N. (1997) K voprosu o dereviannykh krestakh [To the Issue of Wooden Crosses]. Nauka i biznes na Murmane [Science and Business at Murman. Sc.-practical journal]. Murmansk. 1997. No. 2. Pp. 23–26. In Russian.

 Dahl’ V. I. (1998) Tolkovyy slovar’ zhivogo velikorusskogo yazyka [Explanatory Dictionary of the Alive Great-Russian Language]. In 4 vol. Moscow. In Russian. Dmitrieva S. I. (1986) Mezenskie kresty [Mezen’ Crosses]. Pamyatniki kul’tury. Novye otkrytiya. Ezhegodnik [Culture Monuments: New Revelations. Annual]. Moscow. Pp. 461–466. In Russian.

 Filin P. A., Frizin N. N. (2001) Krest v promyslovoy kul’ture pomorov Russkogo Severa [Cross in the Capture Culture of the Pomeranians of the Russian North]. Stavrograœcheskiy sbornik [Collection on Iconography of the Cross]. Moscow. 2001. Book 1. Pp. 166–198. In Russian.

Golubtsov A. P. (1917) Iz chteniy po tserkovnoy arkheologii i liturgike [From Readings on Church Archeology and Liturgiology]. St. Petersburg. In Russian.

Gromyko M.N. (1975) Trudovye traditsii russkikh krest’yan Sibiri (XVIII — pervaya polovina XIX v.) [Labor Traditions of Russian Peasants of Siberia (the 18th — the 1st Half of the 19th Century)]. Novosibirsk. In Russian. Ivanova A.A., Kalutskov V.N., Fadeeva L.V. (2009) Svyatye mesta v kul’turnom landshaìe Pinezh’ya (materialy i kommentarii) [Sacred Places in the Cultural Landscape of Pinega the River’s Basin (Materials and Comments)]. Moscow. In Russian.

Kormina Zh.V. (2006) Religioznost’ russkoy provintsii: k voprosu o funktsii sel’skikh svyatyn’ [Religiosity of the Russian Province: to the Question of Function of Village Sanctities]. Sny Bogoroditsy. Issledovaniya po antropologii religii [Dreams of the Most Holy Mother of God. Studies on Religion Anthropology]. St. Petersburg. Pp. 130–150. In Russian.

Medvedev P. P. (2001) Nekrokul’tovye sooruzheniya Karel’skogo Pomor’ya i smezhnykh pribelomorskikh rayonov [Constructions Related to the Cult of the Dead in the Karelian Pomerania and Adjacent Districts Inshore the White Sea]. Areal’nye issledovaniya narodnogo zodchestva na territorii Respubliki Kareliya [Areal Studies on Folk Architecture in the Territory of Karelia Republic]. Petrozavodsk. URL: http://arni. petrsu.ru (retrieved 04.11.12.). Ovsyannikov O.V. (1990) Starinnye pomorskie kresty po issledovaniyam 1982–1984  gg. [Old Pomeranian Crosses according to the Studies 1982– 1984]. Kratkie soobshcheniya instituta arkheologii [Brief Reports of the Institute of Archeology]. Moscow. 1990. Issue 200. P. 97. In Russian.

 Ovsyannikov O.V., Chukova T.A. (1994) Severnye derevyannye kresty: K voprosu o tipologii [Northern Wooden Crosses: To the Issue of Typology]. Yazychestvo vostochnykh slavyan [Paganism among Eastern Slavs]. Leningrad. Pp. 60–76. In Russian. Panchenko A.A. (1998) Issledovaniya v oblasti narodnogo pravoslaviya. Derevenskie svyatyni Severo-Zapada Rossii [Studies in the Field of Folk Orthodoxy. Rural Sanctities of the North-West of Russia]. St. Petersburg. In Russian.

Platonov E.V. (2001) Sakral’nye ob”ekty v strukture derevni Severo-Zapada Rossii [Sacred Objects in the Village Structure of the North-West of Russia]. Gertsenovskie chteniya. Aktual’nye problemy sotsial’nykh nauk [Herzen Readings. Actual Problems of Social Sciences]. St. Petersburg. 2001. Pp. 86–88. In Russian.

Platonov E. V. (2003) Prostranstvennaya organizatsiya derevenskoy okrugi [Space Arrangement of a Village Vicinity]. Vestnik molodykh uchenykh [Herald of Young Scholars (Historical Sciences — Series)]. 2003. No. 4. Pp. 78–84. In Russian.

Shchepanskaya T.B. (1995) Krizisnaya set’ (traditsii dukhovnogo osvoeniya prostranstva) [Crisis Network (Traditions of Spiritual Reclamation of Space)]. Russkiy Sever. K probleme lokal’nykh grupp [‹e Russian North. To the Problem of Local Groups]. St. Petersburg. Pp. 110176. In Russian.

Shchepanskaya T.B. (2003) Kul’tura dorogi v russkoy miforitual’noy traditsii XIX—XX vv. [Road Culture in the Russian Mythic-Ritual Tradition of the 19th — the 20th Centuries]. Moscow. In Russian.

Tsirkunov I. B. (1997) Pomorskie kresty [Pomeranian Crosses]. Nauka i biznes na Murmane [Science and Business at Murman. Sc.-practical journal]. Murmansk. 1997. No. 2. Pp. 27–41. In Russian.

Tyurin G. (1986) Vos’mikonechnye simvoly pamyati [Octagram Symbols of Memory]. Pamyatniki Arkhangel’skogo Severa [Monuments of the Arckhangel’sk North]. Arkhangel’sk. Pp. 172– 173. In Russian. Ushakov I. F. (1997) Kol’skiy krest [Kola Cross]. Nauka i biznes na Murmane [Science and Business at Murman. Sc.-practical journal]. Murmansk. 1997. No. 2. Pp. 59–62. In Russian.

Vinogradov V.V. (2012) Severorusskie pochitaemye mesta v slove i izobrazhenii (k probleme vzaimodeystviya fol’klora i khudozhestvennogo tvorchestva) [Northern-Russian Venerated Places in Words and in Pictures (to the Problem of Interaction between Folklore and Craìwork Creativity)]. St. Petersburg. In Russian.

Vinogradov V. V., Platonov E. V. (2000) Svyatye mesta: inertsiya pochitaniya [Sacred Places: Inertia of Veneration]. Etnograœcheskoe izuchenie Severo-Zapada (itogi polevykh issledovaniy 2000 g. v Leningradskoy, Pskovskoy i Novgorodskoy oblastyakh) [Ethnographic Studies on the NorthWest (Results of Field Research in Leningrad, Pskov and Novgorod Regions in 2000. Brief Abstracts of Presentations)]. St. Petersburg. 2000. Issue. 5. Pp. 50–52. In Russian.

Weiner A. (1992) Inalienable Possessions. ‹e Paradox of Keeping While Giving. Berkley, Los Angeles, Oxford. In English.