Rituals of birth and baptism among Ukrainian Albanians

Aleksandra Dugushina

The second chapter of the monograph "Expedition to the Sea of ​​Azov: Language and culture of Ukrainian Albanians" begins with the section on family traditions, such as: birth rites; traditions associated with the old woman who helped with the birth (ie the midwife); wedding rites and death rites.

Ethnography of birth rites is an integral part of studies of the traditions of any people. This part contains materials collected in the field during six years (2007-2013) in the villages near the Sea of ​​Azov and in the Budzhak region.

In this research, I have written about various topics, such as: pregnancy, folk medicine, the image and status of midwives, the period of forty days after birth, baptism and relations with godmothers, naming, female holidays after birth, characteristics of attitude of the child and its care, the various practices to protect the child from evil forces and other rituals related to the good fortune of the child.

From an external point of view, the study of birth and childhood rituals is a classic study in ethnography, which has as its main goal the representation of the cultural and linguistic forms of the ethnic group, especially when there is no complete description, as it is in our case. But this case, the culture of the Ukrainian Albanians, shows us that it is not enough just through a description or an example.

The traditional culture of the Albanians of Ukraine is heterogeneous, in which there are many characteristic forms throughout the Balkans, there are archaic forms that are related to the south-eastern area of ​​Albania, and at the same time there are cultural borrowings having close contacts with the Bulgarians and the Gagauz. in eastern Bulgaria, where the Albanians lived for several centuries and had contact in the polyethnic area of ​​Ukraine with Bulgarians, Russians, Gagauzians, Ukrainians, with Romani groups, etc. So, every element of the culture of the Ukrainian Albanians and precisely in the birth rites, there is a very interesting task for researchers, who can find similarities with the ancient culture, with the Balkan traditions and with the cultures of the neighbors in Ukraine with which the Albanians have relatively new contacts.

Despite the development of medicine, which regulates the processes of obstetric care for children, even today Albanians attach great importance to ritual actions and also respect traditions related to the protection, health and well-being of the mother and child. Retrospective memories of informants about birth rites and customs constitute a rich layer of collective thoughts where they define the identity of the ethnic group and occupy an important place in the cultural memory.

For example, let's take the figure of the midwife who helped with the birth of the child. Usually, an old woman with experience in this work, who was called babo or old woman, helped give birth. Only from the 40s of the XNUMXth century, women began to give birth in maternity hospitals with the help of doctors qualified in this field. But despite the fact that the opportunity appeared for women to give birth in a hospital, they preferred to give birth at home with a midwife.

From our information collected during the conducted research, the elderly women remember that time, and think that even today it is better to give birth with the help of the babo, because she cared more for the woman and she "saved them" all women". But, we understand that the old women who helped the women in labor did not have medical education and could not do anything with birth anomalies that could cause tragic consequences.

However, the women remember all the details of the rituals performed by the midwife. The prevailing opinion was that in the hospital women were more vulnerable to infections and that doctors treated pregnant women with contempt. The midwife or babo was closer to women and she became a symbol of the female community. It is interesting that not only an Albanian woman, but also, for example, a Russian or Bulgarian could become a babo and she was respected no less than an Albanian. Close cultural contacts between the ethnic groups inhabiting the southern part of Ukraine caused ethnic boundaries to be ignored in the field of obstetric care. The evidence of intensive cross-cultural contacts is the celebration of midwifery day, ie. "midwife's day" (A babos dita) that Albanians, Bulgarians and Gagauzians celebrate together on January 21.

This holiday, when women congratulate the village midwife with gifts, is very widespread among the southern and eastern Slavic peoples. It is clear that the holiday dedicated to the midwife has a great influence from the Bulgarian culture. But at the same time, according to our studies, over time, such borrowed rites were "bent" with that of the Albanian culture and began to be perceived as their own. Today, in Albanian villages there are no women who help with the birth of children, but every year women congratulate the oldest woman in the village for the holiday, and this tradition, without a doubt, is related to congratulating the midwife.

As mentioned above, in the rites of birth for the Albanians of Ukraine there are many beliefs and traditions that have similarities with the traditions of the peoples of the Balkans. Many similar beliefs are in the field of folk bans and practices to protect against dangerous forces. The family considered it shameful for a pregnant woman to reveal her pregnancy. Pregnant women wore the apron on top as usual, to hide the belly from all family members, especially the father-in-law. All the members of the family did not talk about the pregnancy of the bride and the birth of the child, until that moment when the husband and then the mother-in-law found out about her pregnancy. They hid the pregnancy even from other villagers, to protect the child in the womb from evil forces and to ensure an easy delivery.

The pregnant woman was forbidden to do some kind of household work, for example: on religious holidays the woman was forbidden to wash clothes; the pregnant woman was forbidden to use scissors and knives, so as not to remain barren; the pregnant woman could not sew, so that the child would not be born with attached fingers. Also, she was forbidden to jump the rope, because otherwise the umbilical cord could wrap around the child's neck and suffocate him and so on. When the child was born, the woman said: "we bought the child", or "we caught the child in the well" or "in the river". Not only the period of pregnancy is considered dangerous for the woman, but also 40 days after the birth of the child. On these days, the woman in labor does not leave the house and does not show the newborn child to visitors, in order not to cause harm to herself and the baby.

Ukrainian Albanians use many amulets and folk remedies for the protection of the newborn child. For example, the child was wrapped only in old diapers, which symbolized not only a practical action (old clothing was gentle on the skin), but also strong ties of the child to the father's family. Parents tie a red thread around the baby's hand in the form of a bracelet to protect it from the evil eye, or they could tie a red thread with a Christian cross around the baby's neck. Among the means of verbal protection, a special place is taken by the prohibition of calling a child by name. In daily communication, they could only use euphemisms related to animals, birds, material objects, lexicon from a foreign language, for example γershete 'scissors', fshese 'broom', kracun — 'stubborn, stupid', etc.

In the tradition of Ukrainian Albanians there are some rituals that are very representative of Balkan cultures. One of them is the ritual of selling the baby. If the child is sick, the mother can leave the baby at the crossroads or on the windowsill in the morning and any passerby who finds the child becomes his second parent, or nun. The passer-by gives some money to the baby's mother, and in this way the process of the baby's rebirth is ritually celebrated. It is well known that this ritual is very widespread in the Albanian tradition, as well as in the Balkan traditions.

Another story in this context is the belief that a child's fate is predicted by supernatural beings in the first days after birth. According to the legends in the tradition of the Ukrainian Albanians, three women or three men dressed in black clothes appear over the baby's cradle on the third night after birth and give him the fate (blessing) ("Three men who give f'atne", "Three women write kesemetne kese d'al"). Two of them predict an early death for the child or other misfortune. The third character finds a compromise and determines the life expectancy or time of marriage, future profession, etc. But no man can change this fate. Although the mythology associated with the prediction of fate has an Indo-European depth, similar stories as in the tradition of the Ukrainian Albanians are considered characteristic features of the painting of the Balkan world.

Taking into account the time of residence outside the main Albanian area and the different cultures that have occurred as a result of inter-ethnic contacts, the preservation of the language and precisely the preservation of the lexicon related to birth in the diaspora tradition is a very important fact, because this lexicon shows a layer archaic in the culture of Ukrainian Albanians. Thus, for example, they have preserved the special celebration of the birth of the child with the name poganik, which is very widespread in the southern and southeastern areas of Albania (with different variants poganic / boganic / baganic, etc.) meaning "bread", "bread", "pie", itself "celebration" and they symbolize the rituals of the birth of the baby.

Such similarities emphasize the continuity of the traditional culture of the Albanian colonists and the Albanians of the Balkan Peninsula and beyond – the inclusion of the culture of the Ukrainian Albanians in the cultural and linguistic area of ​​the Balkans. /Albania/

(The author works at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography at the Russian Academy of Sciences (Kunstkamera), while the materials were collected in the field during the years 2007-2013 in the villages near the Sea of ​​Azov and Budzhaku)