An overview of the Open Scene of the Village and the World

What should a book about theater look like? How about the one about a category of theatrical performances in the ethnological dimension? Research project of the Institute of Romanian Philology B. P. Hasdeu stimulates research into socio-cultural contexts and European connections, and Eugeniu Coseriu urges us to open up universally - each with his own field of research. In the sub-theme National Folklore Corpus, the popular (folkloric) theater is my area of expertise and the Latin phrase Theatrum mundi = The spectacle of the world. The world seen as a spectacle it is the universal concept of theatricality. The definite sign of the theater is the character. In illo tempore, man invented an incredible, saving theater, modeling fictional characters from the most abundant matter - from what he did not know, out of ignorance. For phenomena that man could not explain in the beginning, he shaped ... spirits, supernatural beings, elves. The nebula of imaginary characters fell into two broad categories – the good and the evil ones. In order to understand the diversity of masks and clothing of modern times, it is imperative to accept a scaffolding of archetypal dichotomies, resulting from this modeling of beginnings: life - death, good - evil, beauty - ugly, God - Satan, love - hate , wealth - poverty, Christ - Herod, the wise – the stupid ... All the characters - not just from the theater of any kind - are derived from these archetypal dichotomies, and the triggering axial motives, in which it manifests itself in tension, are love, fertility, fecundity, disease, healing, death, resurrection. The Romanian folk theater is part of the same spectacle of the world, and the eternal scene is on the doorstep of the house with a spinster to be married. More important deduction - this is also the engine that sets the characters and the scene in motion: the love that moves the sky and ... the scene.

The “Yuletide Theater” of Voronezh Village, Chernigov Province

Статья предваряет публикацию архивных материалов, посвященных традиционным святочным представлениям, исполнявшимся в селе Воронеже Черниговской губернии в конце XIX в. Записи принадлежат уроженцу села, собирателю и краеведу И. С. Абрамову. Абрамовым собран значительный материал по фольклору и этнографии Воронежа, большая часть которого до настоящего времени не опубликована и хранится в РГАЛИ. Среди записей собирателя материалы по фольклорному театру занимают немаловажное место. Им зафиксированы три варианта народной драмы «Царь Максимилиан». Публикуемые ниже материалы расширяют картину бытования произведений фольклорного театра в Воронеже и шире на Черниговщине. Они показывают, что в селе Воронеже на Святки исполнялся целый ряд в различной степени ритуализованных представлений (колядование, щедрование, засевание, хождение с козой и звездой, драма), которые в своей совокупности можно назвать «святочным театром». В плане распространения обрядово-игровых форм Воронеж не был исключением для восточной части Черниговской губернии, в частности, на рубеже XIX-XX вв. здесь было записано шесть вариантов драмы «Царь Максимилиан». В статье приводятся сведения об исполнителях, от которых сделаны записи, дается характеристика материалов. В период 1916-1937 гг., когда производились записи, представления с козой, звездой и народная драма «Царь Максимилиан» уже вышли из активного бытования, что свидетельствует об усилении процесса изменения традиции в первую треть XX в., в том числе и под влиянием таких социальных катаклизмов, как Первая мировая война и революция. Таким образом, публикуемые ниже записи отражают тот этап жизни одного из сегментов традиции, когда он становится частью народной памяти. This article precedes the publication of archival materials devoted to the traditional Christmas (Yuleytide) plays, performed in Voronezh Village, Chernigov Province, in the late nineteenth century. This material was gathered by a native of the village, the collector and ethnographer I. S. Abramov. Abramov assembled a significant amount of material on the folklore and ethnography of Voronezh, a large part of which, stored in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, has not yet been published. Materials on folk theater occupy an important place among Abramov’s records. For example, he recorded three versions of the folk drama “Tsar Maximilian.” The materials published in this article expand our picture of folk theater in Voronezh and in the larger Chernigov Province. They show that in Voronezh a number of ritualized performances (including “kolyadovanie,” “shchedrovanie,” “zasevanie,” walking with a goat and a star, drama) were performed at Yuletide, which taken together may be called “Yuletide theater.” In terms of the distribution of ritual forms of play, Voronezh was no exception for the Eastern part of Chernigov Province. For example, at the turn of the nineteenth - twentieth century, six versions of “Tsar Maximilian” were recorded in the region. The article describes the records that have been preserved and information about the performers who left them. During the period 1916-1937, when these records were made, performances with goat, star and “Tsar Maximilian” had already become a thing of the past, reflecting the changes that came about due to the cataclysm of the First World War and Revolution. Thus, the records reflect the stage of life of one portion of the tradition when it was becoming part of the people’s memory

Laughter and Humor in the Slavic and Jewish Cultural Traditions

The issue “Laughter and Humor in the Slavic and Jewish Cultural Tradition” of the yearbook “Slavic and Jewish Cultures: Dialogue, Similarities, differences” includes materials of the international conference of the same name, held in Moscow on December 2–4, 2020. The book includes 15 articles by scientists from Russia, Belarus, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, who devoted their research to the images of the ridiculous in different cultures and literatures, in traditional culture and fine art. The authors consider a wide range of issues related to the concept of laughter culture, with the problems of perception of laughter and funny in book and oral culture, with the reflection of humorous and comic beginnings in various genres of literature, folklore and folk theater, in everyday and ceremonial behavior.

Tradition and Literature (Culture of Laughter of Mali and Guinea)

This article continues the topic of the previous one [Zavyalova, Kutsenkov, 2020]. It reveals how great is the role of humor in the cultures of West Africa, where it manifests itself in various spheres of life of its peoples. The Kɔ̀tɛba Folk Theater in Mali and Guinea is another traditional aspect of humor based on satire. The secret society of Kɔ̀rɛduga “jesters” is characteristic of the traditional cultures of Manden. The Dogon have guardians of brussa, alamonyou, who play the role of clowns during the release of masks, and female jesters yayeré, who are wives of the inhabitants of a given village, originating from other villages. The Manden and Dogon humor permeates all spheres of the traditional way of life, and it plays one of fundamental roles in the manner of communication, in the theater and in oral literature. Thus, satire is aimed either at resolving possible conflicts in the absence of mutual understanding between representatives of various social, age and other groups, at resolving conflicts associated with violation of etiquette. All satirical folklore genres function on this basis. Fairy tales and anecdotes ridicule violations of the norms of etiquette inherent in this particular culture. The folk theater touches on topical, actual violations of traditional norms of behavior. In conclusion, the authors note that humor is one of the foundations of the “virtual” reality of the culture created by these societies. When such regulators are violated and their semantic content changes, the whole reality and even the very existence of these peoples will change.

Mythology in folklore and its features

In the article, folk art - artistic, creative-practical and amateur activity of the masses; folklore, folk music (folklore), folk theater (performing arts), folk dances (dances), puppetry, wood and wooden foot games (folk circus), folk fine and applied arts of traditional material and intangible culture information and examples of art and technical and artistic hobbies

Folk Theater and History: Constructing Indian Identity through The Khyal of Amar Singh Rathore

Folklores can epitomize the nation as a unifying principle crossing the horizons of regional divisions and subcultures. The connecting factors of folklores among regional and local levels give an understanding of manifold and contextual-based identities. The collective/coalesce of social memory is understood through the folk narratives. There is a cognitive and affective deliberation that structures the manner in which memory is interpreted. These narratives shape and reconstruct “identity” as they consist of a trans-subjective truth value providing ever new understanding of reality. The present research focuses on the Marwari folk Drama The Khyal of Amar Singh Rathoretranslated by Cecil Thomas Ault and folk performing art Khyal that constitutes meanings and symbols. Khyal, a popular folk dramatic art, is especially linked to martial and romantic ballads of Rajputana. It is indicative of the gap between past and present with spontaneity and originality and is seen as a transmissible entity with reference to the performing arts in the northern region of India. There is an exploration of the dynamics of the origin of the folk narrative of Amar Singh Rathore, a source of Rajasthani culture and identity thus paving way for the other folk narratives that form the pan-Indian identity. The folk literature draws cartographies of a nation or region giving a historical depth and continuity. The dissemination of historical folk anecdotes and their retellings are plausibly a move towards identification. The historical imagination and socio-cultural memory, mostly drawn from Rajasthani rural landscape, influences and reshapes history and culture of Rajasthan, thereby making it a historical artifact providing abidance and insights into folklore as a heritage/national construct. The research reflects and projects the values, feelings, ideas and identity of the groups which identify with and perform this art. Another dimension of the present study formulates an understanding of the forms and style of Khyal folk theater of Rajasthan and how The Khyal of Amar Singh Rathore communicates and travels through linguistic and cultural boundaries constructing new spatial cartographies serving as evidence of connectivity and consistencies.

ANALISIS STRUKTUR NASKAH LUDRUK LAKON MLIWIS HITAM

This research is entitled Analisis Struktur Naskah Ludruk Lakon Mliwis Hitam. This research focused on documenting folk theater in form ofwriting manuscript and the structural analysis. The script will no longer be developed into a wos, but into a modern structure one. The existence of Mliwis Hitam script is become an affirmation of folk art embodying solicitation of theater spirit in Nusantara. It is worthwhile that it can emerge new idiom to enrich kinds of theater in Indonesia. Structural analysis of Mliwis Hitam script is also done to ease director and actors to understand the story. This analysis can also be a reference in transformation process from textual script into a dramatic scene on stage.Keywords: script, structure, ludruk, and folk theater.