THE CALENDAR RITUAL CELEBRATION AS A SPIRITUAL PHENOMENON OF THE UKRAINIAN CULTURE

Abstract

The article reveals the role of the calendar ceremonial feast as a spiritual phenomenon in the context of the translation the old ceremonial traditions, the familiarizing person to the family values.

The calendar customs and ceremonies, which revealed the ethnic specificity of the people; the features that certify the genetic commonality and the same or similar patterns of the historical development of the certain ethnic groups and some characteristics of the universal culture are the most persistent traditional elements of the spiritual culture. From this perspective, the study of the calendar customs and traditions plays a special role in the complex of the urgent problems of the modern cultural history and philosophy. In the last quarter of the twentieth century. especially the problem of historical transformation of the of the components of the ritual culture of our people are actualized. The period of the XXth – beginning of the XXI-st century is characterized by the gradual growth of the scientific interest in the origins of the traditional ethnic culture in the regional manifestations, but it slowed down by the economic and political factors. The genesis of the traditions and customs many scientists explained in the different ways. The scientists of the past centuries have seen the origin of the calendar events from the eastern mythology – the Indian and Iranian, which was typical for the scientific disciplines in the middle of the XXIst century. Others saw the influence of Greek and Roman traditions. The myths, legends, fairy tales, songs, and over time – the annals of ancient Slavs, especially the eastern, kept the history of the ordering of the universe, the history of the cosmos. It is because they learn about the natural and human world, the moral norms of the life, the customs and celebrations of our ancestors. Although the religious and mythological integrity of the paganism, its spiritual element during the Christianization was been affected, our ancestors were able to save more and to adapt to the new religion (holidays and some traditions). The content of the holidays that were traditionally observed in the religious and national life radically changed with the arrival of the Christianity on the territory of the Russia. The calendar rites and the pre-Christian celebration were determined by of the annual cycle and represented a significant part of the traditional household spiritual culture. Accordingly, they determined the entire order of the human life in the course of the year, recorded his natural rhythm in the external signs. Their inner essence was controlled by two factors: natural and recessional processes of the human activity and seasonality of the nature. The beliefs about the unity of the universe, especially the vertical model: otherworldly, earthly and heavenly worlds preserved among the festivals and rituals of the calendar cycle of the Ukrainians. The ideological imagination of our distant ancestors very clearly can be traced in the Ukrainian rites that the arrival of a new season of the year depends on the ancestors of the other world. Therefore, the traditions of the honoring of the dead are so strong developed and preserved in the spring, although the cult of the ancestors is common to all transitional moments in the nature: from spring to summer and then the autumn, winter. A new concept of the spiritual development of the people, combined with the development of the culture and the revival of its rituals, festive culture has been put forward since the gaining sovereignty of the Ukrainian state. The festively-ceremonial culture by the certain degree affected on the formation of the education, ethics of relations within the family. Especially impressively respectful attitude to the family values are shown in the festivals and ceremonies associated with the winter cycle in the Hutsul region. In the other regions of the Ukraine the call for revival of the spiritual culture and history of the nations contributed to the emergence of the new forms of the mass theatrical performances: the holidays Cossack's art, Cossack funs, holidays of the "Singing field" and others. The high level of the improvisation, dynamic, emotional looseness, adequate display of the phenomena of the social reality inherent in the calendar ritual holidays as a spiritual phenomenon of the Ukrainian culture. Again the forgot den is raised; sing the Christmas carols are song; mummers wish happiness, health and well-being of the people. The Christmas carols and New Year songs, turning to the people, give him spiritual power. This folklore is modified by means of the application of different types of plastics, in particular, rooted in the ancient calendar and household rites and festivity. This contributes to the reproduction of the ancient artistic traditions, which is especially important for youth participation in the ceremonial feasts.