UKRAINIAN POLISSYA: NATION, TRADITIONS, RITUALS

Abstract

The ethnic socio-cultural history of Polissya has ancient origins and today is a subject of interest to historians, cultural studies, ethnologists, ethnographers, ethnologists, local historians, other scholars, and citizens who care about the fate of Ukraine, which is in difficulties today. This story is a testament to the national identity and the peculiar socio-cultural qualitative and quantitative features and characteristics of the Polissia region, whose people are still nourished by rituals, symbols and traditions that took place in pre-Christian times. They play a role in the everyday life and occupations of the people of this region, manifesting themselves during holidays that recreate the natural cycle, family events, and socially significant phenomena, especially of an economic nature. Their study and nurturing at the level of historical consciousness and memory is a necessary element of public life in Ukraine as a whole. The purpose of the article is to analyse the main positions that cover the rituals and traditions of the Polissya population, which is the basis for determining the special socio-cultural features inherent in it. The research methodology is revealed through the use of general logical, general scientific principles and approaches in the presentation of the material. The study used methods from the humanities, such as philosophy (social philosophy, axiology, ethics, theory of knowledge), anthropology (socioanthropology, historical anthropology), history (history of everyday life, social history, special historical disciplines), cultural studies, comparative mythology, ethnography, ethnology, Ukrainian studies, ethnology, etc. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the systematic presentation of the basic information and knowledge that illuminate the genesis and development of the ceremonial sphere, traditions, rituals and symbols that are embedded in the historical memory of the Polissya population and in a certain way manifested both in everyday life and during folk festivals, which have an ancient historical and cultural character and content. The conclusions of the study in a certain way summarise the main positions and provisions that highlight the genesis and dynamics of the main lacunae related to the historical memory and consciousness of the population of Polissya: rites, traditions, rituals and symbols.