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LOVE THEMES IN UKRAINIAN ORAL AND CLASSIC LITERARURE by DR. H6L6NE N. TURKEWICZ-SANKO Nature is very much represented in Ukrainian oral literature as well as in the classic written literature, and these are literary themes that specifically infuse into the text the exaltation of the soul of the Ukrainian people. Images to express love in Ukrainian poems are drawn from the waters, the flora, the fauna, and the skies. Water is a theme that symbolizes love in many literatures; the subject can be the ocean, the sea, the lake, the river, the brook, the stream, the rain, the tear. In Ukrainian love poetry, it is the w e ll that one digs in the sour cherry orchard with the hope that once it is dug, a beautiful woman will come to fetch some water. In oral literature, the theme of water from the well is developed in songs sung by men to celebrate women. One of the most popular songs from Ukrainian oral literature demonstrates this theme: Rozprahite hloptsi koni, tai liahaite spchyvat’ A ya pidu v sad vishneviy, v sad kernychen’ku kopat’. Kopav, kopav kyrnechen’ku, u veshnevomu sadu Chy ne vyide divchynon’ka, rano v rantsi po vodu. Unsaddle your horses, boys, and lie down to rest But I’ll go to the sour cherry orchard, to dig a well. He dug and dug the well in the sour cherry orchard. Will the lovely maiden come in the early morning To get water? The plantlore in Ukrainian love poems and songs is enriched by the presence of “ruta-miata” or mint (symbol of modesty in unmarried girls), “materinka” or wild thyme (symbol of the promise of marriage or mother hood), “rosmai” or rosemary (an allegedly magical plant which has the power to bring back a recreant lover), “vasylki” or sweet basil (another allegedly magical plant which has the power to keep a lover faithful, and “pshynytsia” or wheat from which the “korovai” or wedding bread is made, symbolizing the young girl. One plant in particular, “barvinok” or periwinkle, is prevalent in songs sung by women to celebrate the men they love. Periwinkle, also called Vinca, is a vigorously trailing evergreen plant with blue flowers whose arching tangled growth will form a dense cover anywhere, in sun or shade. It is not a plant native to the Americas. It is believed to have been imported by European and perhaps even Ukrainian immigrant women who were rejoining their betrothed to be wed in the New World. This hypothesis stems from two facts: first, the periwinkle plays and important part in Ukrainian love songs and poems, and second, it crowns the heads of the couple during the wedding ceremony and is used to decorate the ritual wedding breads. Its presence symbolizes everlasting love, faith and commitment. For centuries, herbalists believed that the periwinkle possessed both physical and metaphysical binding powers. In Ukrainian oral and written literature, the peri winkle refers to the man who is loved freely without the constraints of parents. It is often addressed directly, the way we would address a person. “O, my dearest green periwinkle, says another. “Mother, let me go gather some periwinkle” means “let me go meet the one I love” and “to have spent the night in the periwinkle” is an expression that suggests the tender encounter of two lovers who have spent the night together. Many folk songs compare the wandering pattern of the growing periwinkle to the evolution of the man’s courtship. And in the Wedding Cycle of songs, it is the women and the chorus of women, not the men, who sing about the periwinkle as they gather the plan foliage for the wedding ceremony: Nese Halia vodu, koromeslo hnetsia Za neyu Ivanko, yak barvinok vyetsia... Halia is carrying water, the buckets are heavy Behind her, Ivanko meanders like periwinkle... Sometimes a descriptive adjective is used to describe the periwinkle, a term of endearment, or the word "hreshchatiy” to symbolize reassurance of a definite commitment. “Hreshchatiy” means “in the shape of a cross” and probably refers to the four leaves pattern which ends the stem of periwinkle and may suggest the union of two families by the marriage of two young people. “Hreshchatiy” may also refer to the pattern in which the plant itself spreads to carpet the ground. In orchards, periwinkle grows best in the shade of plum trees. This fact is reflected in the Ukrainian pysanky patterns known as “barvinok” in which the fruit pattern blends with the pattern of the creeping periwinkle. Sour cherry tree orchards abound in Ukraine. One legend of the sour cherry trees tell the story of two lovers captured by the Turks and put to death. Although they had not been married, people who knew of their love decided to bury them together. On the grave they planted a cherry tree which bloomed and produced its usual red fruit; however, the fruit was no longer sweet, but sour. The sour cherry tree came to symbolize true and ever-lasting love. Lovers meet in the sour cherry orchard; the coming and going of a lover is suggested by the newly beaten path or “stezhka” which leads to the secret lovers’ place of rendezvous. ’’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛЮТИЙ 1996 15
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