Zeitschrift für Slavische Philologie

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Die Suche erzielte 1 Treffer.

Zhanna Nekrashevich-Karotkaja

Zeitschrift für Slavische Philologie, Jahrgang 75 (2019), Ausgabe 2, Seite 269 - 295

Literary Allegories of the Sorbic-Lusatian ‚Ptači kwas‘ Ritual and the Tradition of Animal Grotesques in the Poetry of Slavic Cultures This article examines the best-known poetic narratives accompanying the traditional Sorbian ritual called ‚Ptači kwas‘ [“Birdball” or “Birdwedding”]. Etymologically connected to the old ritual of ‚Vogelhochzeit‘ with its pagan origins, the tradition of the “bird wedding” acquired moral and didactic meanings in the Sorbian culture, which are rendered in this people’s songs such as ‚Hlejće, nowa wěc so stała‘. The author contests the claim that the aforementioned literary allegory may be typologically related to animal grotesques which are widely depicted in the poetic culture of the East Slavs. In the song ‚Hlejće, nowa wěc so stała‘, as well as in all East Slavic animal grotesques, the traditional mythopoetic symbolism of chthonic orientation is unexpectedly modified—it is presented from the viewpoint of modeling both existential strategies and collective roles. This explains the keen interest in bird and animal allegories on the part of East Slavic writers throughout the centuries (Mikhal Korycki, Jan Barszczewski, Kornei Chukovskii).

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