a question about an old Russian Tradition

Wed Apr 6 18:06:51 UTC 2005

6 April 2005

Dear seelangers interested in tree lore,
This is a fascinating subject.  Somewhere in _The Slave Soul of Russia_
(NYU Press 1995) I have a "Digression on Birches" which may be relevant
to the discussion.  English language sources are also cited there,
including Paul Friedrich's classic _Proto-Indo-European Trees_.

Regards,

Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
Emeritus Professor of Russian
University of California, Davis

Yelena wrote:

> 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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