STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL STUDY OF THE UKRAINIAN FUNERAL RITES

Abstract

The aim of the study is to prove the possibility of applying the method of structural and functional analysis to study the funeral cycle of rites and generalizing of previous publications on the structure of this cycle of national rit ualism. The invariant of funeral rites is taken for research, which is acceptable in most regions and ethnographic districts of Ukraine. The structure is created by dividing each rite of the cycle into constituent episodes using clearly de fined criteria: new-level or generalized repetition of the event, social metamorphosis of characters, changes in the sacred chronotope, the principle of constant renewal, changes in the nature of action. The structure, as a result of construction, included five rites; all subsequent actions are recognized as repeating the content of the funeral repast. Thanks to the use of the structure, it became possible to identify antinomic couples and groups that participate in rituals and show belonging to the real world or the afterlife. Confrontations of antinomies are the driving force through which ritual actions are performed in the middle of the cycle. The limits of chronotope deployment and spread of sacralization, moments of origin, movement and liquidation of the sacred center, development of the mediation process and provocation of further ritual actions by the mediating characters are established. The culminating episodes of each rite are defined, where sacralization reaches the maximum level. These rites of passage are the prologue, burial in the cemetery, funeral repast, and the statuses of the main object of funeral ceremonies: dead – buried – de ceased. In this case, the profane statuses are the dead and the deceased, and the sacred status, which exists only within the rite, is the status of the buried. The study identified the main tasks of the funeral cycle of rites, which include removing the dead body from the territory of the living, bringing the deceased to the afterlife, burying in the ground for further revival and his inclusion in the composition of the dead ancestors