THE MEANINGFUL SPACE OF AN “ONE’S OWN” WORLD IN UKRAINIAN CAROLS

Abstract

The paper examines the peculiarities of an “one’s own” meaningful space of Ukrainian carols, which are archaic sacred texts reflecting the worldview of the people. The analysis of the key epithetical compounds of carols makes it possible to conceptualise the main components of the mythological picture of the world of Ukrainians, since this characteristic is one of the determinants of the structure and semantics of both texts of Ukrainian oral folk art in general and carols in particular. The “one’s own” space in the analysed genre is sacralised and represented by the main concentric circles: the farm field – the yard (courtyard – garden – well – apiary) – the hut (a Ukrainianhouse) – the table. The owner and/or family members are usually located within these spatial circles. The object of glorification and everything around it has idealised characteristics, which is connected with the pragmatic purpose of the ritual and the idea of the host as a representative of God (Lord) which is the performer of the cult on behalf of the whole family, the ancestor of the first ancestor, i.e. the ancestor and the donor. In addition, it is on the field, in the courtyard and in the house of the host that sacred plots unfold, and that higher positive beings (Jesus Christ, saints, the Virgin Mary) act. The yard and the house in such texts are specified as much as possible by agricultural epithetical characteristics that is explained by the peculiarities of the archaic worldview of Ukrainians regarding the ritual of carolling. The centre of the ritual action is the table – the house throne, a place marked with a special sacred meaning. This is confirmed by such designations as sycamore, golden, and viburnum, which in the folk tradition reflect the idea of belonging to the supernatural and divine (compare with the concepts of sycamore people, viburnum bridge, etc.) The image of an agricultural field is often an implicit but important component of the texts, as the images of ploughing and the upcoming harvest fulfil the productive function of the ritual. Particularly noteworthy is the analysis of the epithetical compound of a heavenly well in the context of “three brothers are burning over the heavenly well”, which, in our opinion, is a variant of the universal image of the world tree/axis.