The Slavs have a long tradition of documenting their folk traditions and rich material is available for study. The course will use verbal lore: folktales, legends, and songs, as an entry into Slavic belief. After reading or viewing selected stories, students will explore the connections between them and ritual practices, such as the celebration of wedding rites. Similarly, stories will lead to examination of material culture such as housing, clothing, and traditional food and food behavior. Because your instructor specializes in Ukrainian folklore, emphasis will be on the folklore of the East Slavs, meaning the Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians, but students are more than welcome to look at the West Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks) and their lore or the lore of the Southern Slavs (Bulgarians, Croats, Serbs, Macedonians, Slovenes).
#Magic #tale #analysis
