SLFK 215, September 2, 2003
Last lecture &endash; magic people are professionals
The sorts of things that they do are often associated with health
The interplay of the spirit and the body is a central issue to this course
Magic people tend to be viewed in opposites and extremes &endash; greatly admired and either feared or looked down upon
We will start with the category of the artist
To help us see things, distancing is often very useful
When we look at the familiar, we fail to see
Because it is familiar we overlook
So, if we want to look at art and artists, we should look at some fairly peculiar ones
This sort of stuff makes this a non-Western perspective
Started showing you some Ukrainian minstrels, a very special category of artist
This is a rather peculiar category because, in order to be this sort of artist, you HAVE TO be blind
Actually, what they say is that you have to be a cripple, but, for all practical purposes, what you have to be is blind
Talent does not matter
At some point in the past, all children who were blind were assumed to be destined for work as performers
So if a kid is blind, whether
Born that way
Or accident
Or illness
You apprentice him (and probably her) to as master
Kid learns to be a performer
Reason for this is that ambivalent attitude that I told you about last time
Art is greatly admired
It is believed to have great power &endash; to store historical wisdom, the history of a nation
It is believed to bring blessings
By the same token, art is not something from which you should make money
You should do it for the blessings, not for remuneration
You make money from art ONLY if you are crippled
Same basis for being allowed to beg
So art has to do with begging, which is a rather peculiar notion
Unless you think of Western notions of having to suffer to be a good artist
These ideas start at some point in the distant past
We know for sure that they are around from the second half of the 19th century until Stalin because that is the period from which we have lots of data
Stalin period is a watershed in the tradition because Stalin is afraid of minstrels and has them killed off
In modern times, you don't HAVE to be blind to be a minstrel
Though blind kids are still assumed to be musical and sent to music schools
Some of the performers today are indeed blind
Some of these performers are remarkably good
And this is not just today, but in the past when the only criterion for deciding someone was going to be a minstrel was blindness
Play some tapes &endash; Suprun
3 brothers
Lirnyk
As a result, modern scholars and others ASSUME that it couldn't have just been that ANY and EVERY blind kid got apprenticed to be a minstrel
They assumed that only TALENTED kids were and that they were BLINDED during the course of apprenticeship to make them suitable to the profession
Hand out survey
Let's go back to the blind artist
What is this with some sort of stigma (meaning body marking) and art?
Part of it is the belief in compensation for organ inferiority
Does a blind person have more acute hearing than a sighted person?
Does a blind person have a better sense of touch? Smell? Taste?
Suprun's blind man in a restaurant joke.
There is a wide-spread belief, not just Ukrainian and Russian, that there is a kind of allotment of ability to sense per person
And if you lose one sense, then the others take over, develop to be more keen, strong
There is probably something to this
Already mentioned Suprun walking around our house
And you could argue that someone with more astute hearing would be a better singer
Someone with more sensitive touch &endash; to learn to play a musical instrument
Singers themselves speak of the blind having better memory
But here is where cultural differences come in
Artist merit, as in TALENT seems to be irrelevant to the kind of singing these guys do
Many are NOT so good and get money BECAUSE they are blind
This is the right to beg part
It is not artist merit, but giving in the name of God that gets you all sorts of benefits
A blind person saying a prayer on your behalf, or on behalf of a deceased relative will be much more effective than an ordinary person saying the same prayer
If he can sing it, all the better
This is only one line of reasoning.
There are others.
Right now we take up issue of the body and a physical handicap makes you special and gives you power
(We will take up other issues later.)
Importance of body integrity (I will have questionnaire on this for you also. In US this is also issue of body control. I would say our society considers it important to have CONTROL over your body and, among Slavs, even today, it is body integrity, though control and slim body becoming an issue under the influence of the West.)
What does one do with an amputated arm or leg?
Throw away?
Keep? If so, how?
Bury? If so, where?
What about soft tissue such as an excised spleen or liver, or a uterus after a hysterectomy?
What about stuff that comes out naturally such as baby teeth?
Hair?
Nail clippings?
Slavic belief:
Life is truly cyclical
When a person dies, his or her body decays and becomes one with the soil
Crops grow out of the soil (body)
They nourish successive generations &endash; at least the body part
Can't just say this &endash; need all sorts of evidence
And there is plenty, though what I said is never articulated
This is a pre-Christian belief
Replaced by religious and other (like medical) doctrine
You can see it in various beliefs and practices
Surfaces more and more in Mom as she ages and enters a kind-of dream-like state
Even though Mom was never much into folklore
Evidence
The various 1 year after death practices
There is a funeral after death &endash; deceased must spend one night in the house
Then funeral
Commemorative services &endash; 3, 6, 9, 40 days after, then _ year and 1 year
These are for a SPECIFIC dead person and are determined by that specific person's date of death
After that, deceased seems to stop being a specific person and enters category of ancestors = all dead grouped together
Because commemorative after one year is NOT for specific dead person, but for all dead ancestors
NOT determined by the date of death of a specific person, but by the calendar
Thus the Tuesday after Easter (or the Sunday)
Ascension Day
Several days in November
So, what is the deal with one year?
Seems to be the time that it takes flesh to decay.
How do we know?
Evidence of double burial
The Kievan crypts and other monasteries where monks practice a kind of burial in life to achieve holiness &endash; forsaking the flesh, which is an interesting point in its own right
When they die, they are buried in their cells &endash; their cells are sealed
After one year &endash; examined to see the condition of the body
If the body is decayed, which happens in most cases, then the body is buried (reburied)
And sorted by bones
Big bones with big bones; little with little; skulls with skulls
Concern for decomposition of the flesh in general
Old with saints
If flesh DOES NOT decompose, then person is considered holy
He is displayed as a sign of his sanctity
Argue that he over came the flesh in life
Estheticism
Therefore flesh preserved in death and person is holy
(Totally different interpretation of failure to decay &endash; as in vampirism &endash; but that comes later. I already introduced you to diametrically opposed interpretations of the same phenomenon, as long as it is marked, a bit.)