E-mail: mvgask@mail.ru
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11а, Studencheskiy by-str., Tver’, 170100, Russian Federation
PhD (Pedagogy), Tver’ branch of the State Academy of Slavic Culture
Article is based on folklore and ethnographic evidences, received by the author during several years of field work at Ostashkov district of Tver’ region. Logic of presentation of the expeditionary material is connected with preliminary results of comprehension of the main features of an early-spring episode of the Ostashkov traditional calendar. Attention is focused on different sorts of round or figured Ostashkov ceremonial cookies, that are revealed by the author, and their temporal correspondence in the national early-spring calendar. Each sort of ceremonial rye pastry has several variants of naming that reflect its external form (spherical or shaped to resemble the Holy Cross or involving motifs of birds) as well as internal relicts of mythic and ritual meaning. Ethnographic material about recipes of ceremonial pastries and the comment on them are recorded from local old residents. The field data has allowed to find out and describe a number of archaic agricultural functions of ceremonial early-spring baking, preserved among the villagers of Ostashkov district. They practiced fortune telling by means of ceremonial pastries and used them as a ritual lot for choosing of the first seeder. Baking was involved in rituals of fertility incantation, including the most ancient agricultural “bloodless” sacrifices to the soil and “feeding” of domestic cattle and fowl.
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