HISTORICAL ROOTS OF THE «MAIDEN-WARRIOR» FOLK PLOT (SOUTH SLAVIC-UKRAINIAN PARALLELS)

Abstract

The article examines cultural and historical bases and factors of the appearance in the folklore of Ukrainians and South Slavs of a «Maiden-Warrior» plot. Among the most important for the Balkan peoples is the institution of sworn virgins – women who took over male roles through ritual inversion, and their participation in the struggle against Turkish rule. This institution was not widespread, but in the context of the local epic fund, it contributed to the emergence of the plot even where it did not exist. For Ukrainians, this is the general militarized atmosphere of the Great Border, the ancient cultural heritage of the steppe Iranian substratum and the possibility to borrow from immigrants from the Balkans. But the main thing is that the emergence of the «Maiden-Warrior» plot in both nations is explained by one common factor, namely the institution of the so-called non-binary gender.

The cultural and historical bases and factors of the appearance in the folklore of Ukrainians and South Slavs of the «Maiden-Warrior» folk plot are analyzed and compared. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study are the methods of historical and typological study of folklore, as well as the anthropological concept of Saladin d'Anglure relating to the so-called third socialgender. Several layers and factors was identified while establishing cultural and historical basis of the «Maiden-Warrior» plot formation by South Slavs. One layer and factor of formation is the institution of sworn virgins burneshas/virgins/tobelijas, the women who took over the male role of head of the family in the Balkan nations through ritual inversion (which included the ritual oath of celibacy). This institution is best known among Albanians, and among Slavs – in Kosovo, Central Serbia, Vojvodina, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dalmatia (Croatia), and northern Macedonia. It was caused by the preserved archaic patriarchal traditions and norms of customary law, survivals of clan and tribal collectivism. When a usually large family(zadruga) was left without a male supporter and representative in front of the authority and the community, his role was taken over by the eldest daughter. Another layer of the «Maiden-Warrior» plotformation was created by the struggle against Turkish rule, in which the participation of women is well known. The oldest layer of the plot of the «Maiden-Warrior» in the southern Slavs is associated, perhaps, with a steppe component in the ethnogenesis of these Nations. After all, nomads are characterized by a generally high position of women in society. To this, we can add the common epic fund of the Balkan peoples which means unlimited opportunities for mutual borrowings. Ukrainians had no institution of sworn virgins; in case of the absence of a man, women became the heads of the families, but they did not perform ritual inversions or hide their sex. However, the conditions of the Steppe Border, which coincided with the civilizational Border of the macro-regions of West and East, where until the end of the XVIII century there were constant military actions, caused militarization of life, weakening of patriarchal order, and periodically caused the need for additional military power, by force of women as well. Another factor of the existence of the «Maiden-Warrior» plotis the legacy of the Scythian-Sarmatian substratum in the ethnogenesis of Ukrainians, as well as the constant influx of groups of Iranian- and Turkic-speaking nomads, where the status of women was high and there were known military units of women. Combining this ancient legacy with the conditions of paramilitary life on the Great Border and the possibility of borrowing the «Maiden-Warrior» plot from Balkanian immigrants in XVIII–XIX centuries led to its existence in Ukrainian folklore. Despite the differences between the South Slavs and Ukrainians, all these circumstances give reason to explain the appearance of the «Maiden-Warrior» plot also by the action of one common factor: within the institution of the so-called third gender. In a traditional society, where the social division of labor is based on the natural sex division, in the absence of people of a certain sex (in our case, men), it is supplemented by persons of the opposite sex (women).