a question about an old Russian Tradition

[Yelena]

Dear Marlow,

Thank you for your interest in folklore. "Slavic Antiquities" is a wonderful
academic edition which describes tons of Slavic folklore traditions in 4
volumes. It is published in Russian only. I may send to you pages about a
tree (general), a birch, an oak and other trees in Russian tradition and you
may find somebody who can translate these pages to you. Another solution -
somebody from my department can translate these pages for you, the problem
is that people would expect to receive some honorarium for this job...

>In particular, I am interested in the tying of the red ribbon around a
>sweet
>birch tree. The tying saved a young girl from an "evil" stepmother, as the
>tale goes, she had tied the red string on the tree to save it from a storm.
>Years
>later the tree somehow saved the same girl from the stepmother as an act of
>gratitude for the girl caring to help the tree.

Well, I will share with you some general information, but as I said your
question is too complicated to be answered just in one message. Trees (like
water and ground) function in Slavic traditions as a way to another world
(to the world of dead). A mother of a girl was dead, so the birch tree
served as a mediator between two worlds, a girl decorated a tree
(symbolically send a greeting message to her dead mother), a tree saved her
from an evil stepmother (in other words her mother saved her daughter with a
help of a tree). Trees are decorated by red ribbons, colorful scarves, beads
in many Slavic rituals, especially on Whit Saturday and Whit Sunday. Whit
Saturday, Whit Sunday (or Ivan Kupala, or Trinity, or Peter-and-Paul Day,
and other rituals which are celebrated on the boarder spring/summer) are
always include the ideas of "another" world and passed away ancestors.
Symbolically this decoration is the way to glory (to send a positive sign)
the deceased ancestors. I write this idea in a very general (rough) way. To
explain all details I will need to read you lectures about Slavic summer
rituals and their semantic connections with ideas of Eros and Tanatos during
the whole semester.

>I reference this in a short autobiographical piece I've written for an
>anthology entitled "Courting the Wild" published by Ecological Studies
>Institute. As
>a young child growing up in the suburbs of New York City I'd take my
>fathers
>red neck ties and tie them on the sweet birch in the woods behind my house.
>My
>father was Palistinian/Circissian, Mother American. The home life was not
>healthy hence, all the time I spent in the woods with the trees. I share
>these
>details in hopes they might help you understand the area of superstition
>I'm
>most interested in.

Very interesting. Was your father dead or alive? Sorry for this question. In
your personal story a tree functioned as a psychological release. The same
function trees have in Russian lyric songs, which are much more younger then
mythological stories or fairy-tales, but still may reflect some ancient
ideas turning them from magic aspect into emotional aspect.

>The editors of the anthology want more information on the Russian Tradition
>that "saved" me, in a sense, and inspired my future career integrating
>Ecopsychology and Nature-based healing. I'm working on the revision this
>month. Your
>comments/direction is greatly appreciated.

Again this is extremely complicated question. In Russian tradition in
particular and in Slavic tradition in general the deads are divided into
several groups. "Dangerous" deads (whose life was interrupted, for example,
they were killed, or drowned) and respected "parents" ("parents" is a
general term for all dead ancestors). The dead "parents" are always welcome
(of course not every day, but they are invited to visit their alive
descendants on special holidays, for example, Whit Saturday). People set the
table with dishes and spoons and steam banya (the Russian traditional
washing place) for their "parents". One of the ways to communicate with the
deads is to decorate the house with birch branches tied by red ribbons. At
the end of a ritual these special branches are burnt down (or terminated in
another way). (This is very importnat act because alive people by this way
break down the connection with their dead ancestors). It is very logical
that "dear parents" will protect alive family members (using the magic power
of trees) being pleased by hospitality of their alive descendants. But again
I will need to write to you 10 pages to create the clear picture of trees'
functions in Slavic folklore traditions. The best way is to send to you
pages from "Slavic Antiquities" or translation of these pages. Best regards,

Yelena Minyonok
www.russianexpedition.net



I do have a FAX here if needed.

Thanks for your interest and assistance--

Sincerely--

Marlow Shami

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