MUSHKETYK LESIA 2025 №1

Mushketyk Lesia

a Doctor of Philology, a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, a leading research fellow at the Ukrainian and Foreign Folkloristics Department of M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine).

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5958-0044

The family institution, with its ritualistic behavior, has played a major role in mediating traditional Ukrainian values. The oral poetic tradition pays a lot of attention to relationships in the family, in particular, between two generations –  parents and children in different age periods. This is discussed in various genres of folklore – fairy tales and legends, songs, ballads, etc., and especially in paremias, those generalize these observations. Characters who have a certain family status, depending on the plot, find themselves in various situations and either become role models or are condemned by folk morality. Thus, relationships between relatives determine the main conflicts of a magical and partly domestic fairy tale, reflecting real human connections between members of the patriarchal family of that time.

The relevance of the work consists in the need to represent the best achievements of folk ethics and pedagogics for society as well as folk experience in the field of family life, in particular exemplified by the artistic texts – visual, easy-to-learn traditional works with educational, instructive direction. The purpose of the work is to show the values of a traditional family, the role of the father and mother in it, their relationships with children at different age periods, methods of upbringing, rewards and punishments on the example of different genres of Ukrainian folklore, the features of their linguistic expression.

We learn from folk narratives that a traditional peasant family has been considered inferior without children, it is a deviation from the norm; the situations with one child in a family, or, conversely, too many have been also disapproved. The image of the mother as a protectress of the family is exalted in oral literature. Her image is sacralized in the representation as the Virgin Mary, Ukraine-Mother. Respect for the father as the protector of the family is also mandatory. He passes on his life experience and wisdom to children, which we see on the example of parable works. The relationship of old parents with adult children who do not show them respect are described as ambiguous and interpreted as a sin in folk psalms, dumas, etc. Incest is also supposed to be a great sin (see folk ballads and legends).

Mythological ideas and beliefs, views on the family in various periods of the existence of mankind are reflected in the works under consideration.

Keywords: folk ethics, intergenerational relations, folklore, parents and children, sins, religion, mythology.

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