RUSSIAN 50 Chapter Notes - Chapter n/a: Mokosh, Kutia, Rusalka
Document Summary
Week 1 || wednesday jan 9 || ivanits, pp. Yuletide sing songs, eat special foods, mummery, etc. Both yuletide and shrovetide shared similar motifs sun, bonfires. Linked to sun cycles and vegetation growth. Easter is not a major holiday for russian peasant. Banish rusalka who is a female spirit that left the water for forests/fields. Kupalo"s day: when day is the longest and vegetation is at its peak. Best known pagan deities came from prince vladimir"s statues. Mokosh": female deity that means moist ( mother damp earth ); goddess of fertility and protects women. Peasant"s concern regards fertility, cemetery rites, death, and resurrection major topic for celebrations. Legend, fabulates, and memorates & creation legends (127-140) In early 20th century russian folk belief shift perspective so peasant had last word. Ex: peasants insist his identity as orthodox christian & crucial opposition was. Russian folk narratives abt supernatural give inside view of peasants" spiritual world btwn beneficial and harmful, clean & unclean.
