SLFK 214, February 5, 2004
Various theories of matriarchy
These ideas are much more widely accepted in Europe and the countries that developed out of the former USSR than here
One reason is that they are part of Marxist theory
Hard to talk about a culture that existed thousands of years ago
Esp. when all you have for evidence is objects, no texts
But very tempting
Esp. when you see continuation of almost identical images
And configurations of images
When you get certain clusters of ideas repeatedly
Like marriage and death
And staying in one place or moving
Importance of children and paternity
If ideas are related by inversion, this is quite alright
Inversion is a typical phenomenon when one belief system replaces another
One cluster of ideas that persists and this is where I stopped is belief that MEN need to be sacrificed for the MOTHERland
Often for the sake of crops
Old ballad of how better to produce crops
By growing them, or by fighting for the land on which they grow
The hero of the song opts for battle
This is the imagery of war, certainly World War II
In World War II - heroic soldier defends Motherland
One of worst sins is betrayal
One of the worst accusations is collaboration with the enemy
Song about partisan and his girlfriend Kateryna
Afghan War - sense that this is an effort to defend the sacred motherland is lost
Treatment of war dead: Afghan war dead buried at the edge of the main cemetery in Kiev, like unquiet dead
Public attitude toward this is mixed - whether or not they belong there or in a place of honor
Lack of success of Afghan War helps in the collapse of the Soviet Union
Propaganda films of war in Chechnya
Soldiers heroic and wonderful and all sorts of threats of their becoming unquiet dead: the enemy does not fight fair, decapitates bodies and they will not rest in the grave
One problem is that enemy is only partially foreign
Different ethnicity, but part of Russian federation
Russians are fighting to keep the Federation together
There is no outside threat to the Motherland
Rumors of Estonian women helping the Chechens
They were white pantyhose (they are nurses? And should help rather than harm)
Continuation of Amazon ideas? They are rumored to be expert marksmen (women) and to shoot men right in the privates
Role of mothers in the Chechen War
Death in war is like sacrifice because, at least during WWII, it is a sacred act
As I said, churches and war museums linked
Why? Both are sacred places of sacrifice
Icons, esp. folk icons have some of the same imagery
Mix of Christian and pre-Christian found in charms
Charms are usually not seen as evil
People who actually practice them call them prayers
But what is in them, from the canonical point of view, is dubious
Virtually all have a Christian/pre-Christian mix
You call on God and/or the saints
You call on the Virgin Mary, but where she sits is on an island called Buian
Some sort of pre-Christian idea of the other world
Virgin holds a dead body and you say that, as the teeth of the dead body do not ache, so may my teeth not ache, may my toothache go away.
Before we look at charms, have to look at the people who say them, namely witches, so called
Again, as the people who actually say charms call them prayers rather than charms, so the people call selves baba, babka, povitukha and NOT witch, ved'ma
According to belief, two types of witches, born and learned
Born are good
7th daughter of seven daughters
Woman born with a caul
Woman born with a tail
2 crowns
The daughter of a witch - powers are inherited
Simply someone with the gift, and that gift is innate
Learned don't come by their powers naturally
They have to make some sort of a deal to get powers
Pact with the devil may appear in written sources
It is NOT typical of oral and folk sources
Learned witches (or sorcerers) make a deal with a person who is already a witch or a sorcerer, sort of like apprenticeship
But they may well have to stomp on icons
Sometimes they have to do stuff with milk and cheese
Or with Easter eggs
They are more likely to be bad than born witches
Though both can go to church and practice the healing arts
Learned may want to do it for profit rather than to help fellow man
They can specialize in love potions and abortificants
Learned witches figure prominently in accusations against witches
In court cases
Learned witches (and sorcerers) consistently have trouble dying
Either must pass on their power to another because it was not theirs to begin with and so they must get rid of it in order to die
Or there IS a belief in connection to demonic forces and the idea that the demons come to collect the soul and person does not want to surrender self to demons
As opposed to someone who is not going to hell and so goes willingly
Breaking hole in the roof to help someone die
Lets soul escape more easily
Burial at crossroads
Burial at edge of cemetery
Although accusations are more common against learned witches
Whether someone is born or learned, can be accused of witchcraft
In fact, if someone is a born witch and is accused, people will say that person was not a born witch at all, but a learned one.
Better way to put it is that the accusation is one of malefice
If you do good things, like a good babka should, no problem
But if something goes wrong
Then accusation of bad intent, malefice
Person performed malefic magic
What a good witch, or babka, the sort of person whom you would actually run across in a village, or in a city, for that matter, does
Mostly gets rids of aches and pains
Can help find things that are lost
If you have an unquiet dead problem, tells you how to take care of it
Some are specialized enough to set bones
In past, many were midwives, or midwives were called babka and could be accused of witchcraft
Deal extensively with childhood illness esp. PEREKHID
Video with umbilical hernia
Can help you with prophylaxis - teach you the correct charms/prayers and actions
Morning incantation/prayer and the washing that goes with it
Incantation/prayer for a long journey
Dynamic of how such a person might be accused of malefice
Person treated does not improve
Or someone peripheral to the situation sickens
Can even be an animal