Myths and Legends of Ukraine
(Argumentative Essay)
During the millennial history the Ukrainian town had created and transmitted plentiful myths and legends. Even though some people believe that myths and legends are irrelevant, they undoubtedly constitute an indispensable element in the formation of a nation and in the case of this country they take much more relevance for the transformation that it is experiencing in political and social spheres and this believes help Ukrainian town to find their true identity.
Firstly, legends and beliefs are styles of popular narration that transmit to generation in generation the experience and collective memory of a town. They describe the facts, mysteries that happen in the internal life of that town, with the goal to explain them. The same ones were defined by Joseph Campbell, specialist in compared mythology, as "elementary instruments to interpret the reality", and they represent the creations of the symbolic character that are used to solve the current dilemmas for each time, such as the fight for the material and symbolic subsistence of a town and protection of their integrity.
In this perspective, the myths of the pre-Christian pagan time are characteristic and common for several pre-Slavic tribes; the same ones describe the vision and the creation of the World. The biggest characters in Ukrainian myths are: the Svarog who, according to the pagans it is a powerful force of well and light, his son is Daybog (the god of the Sun, light, well-being). Furthermore, with a lot of attention it is related the Rod's facts - the Beginning of the Life, the god of the nature; Yarelo - the Sun of Spring, the love, the youth; Perun - the god of the rays; Strebog - the god of the nature elements, of war, of the calamities, Veil - the god of the "low world", frequently in the myths he appears like a snake-dragon; the Beregenia - people's protector, protects the children and home from evil, incarnate as a woman with the lifted arms; the Lada - it is the goddess of love, beauty and harmony of life. Besides, from the first centuries of the Christianity until the present time some literary works have arrived ("Povest ` Vremennej Let", "Slovo or Polku Igoreve") that present the history of the first Slavic state the Rus ` Kievita - of which the oriental Slavs arose - Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian. Apart from that, exists the legend of Cossacks, who maintained the moral precepts and the cultural traditions of their ancestors, among them the ideals of the companionship and fraternity, mutual help, life based on the moral and ethical principles of the Christianity. The mentality of the Cossacks reflects a wide range of the Ukrainian national values, such as the faith in God, love, homeland, earth, independence, own freedom, aspiration to the freedom of its homeland, justice.
On the other hand, those who disagree says that these stories were just fantasies that only make part of the imagination of a group of people that needed to get attention. They also argue the cultural dichotomy that today exists inside Ukraine, where the region western reflects European influences while in the oriental regions the impact of the Russian culture is evident and therefore they think that Ukraine doesn't have own identity.
To sum up, not only in Ukraine but also in all the countries of the world, the myths and legends are indispensable because they reflect the identity of each nation and even if exists mixtures of different towns, as I said before, each one has, in the root of their essence, their own identity that is captured in these stories. Series of legends like that of Saint Olga, Ana Yaroslavna, Kozak Mamai and Roksolana, (who used to take in the hands a long branch of the viburnum (“kalyna chervona”) that is the ornamental bush that symbolizes Ukraine), among other legends, they are source of patriotism and symbolism of the nascent Ukrainian culture.
(Argumentative Essay)
During the millennial history the Ukrainian town had created and transmitted plentiful myths and legends. Even though some people believe that myths and legends are irrelevant, they undoubtedly constitute an indispensable element in the formation of a nation and in the case of this country they take much more relevance for the transformation that it is experiencing in political and social spheres and this believes help Ukrainian town to find their true identity.
Firstly, legends and beliefs are styles of popular narration that transmit to generation in generation the experience and collective memory of a town. They describe the facts, mysteries that happen in the internal life of that town, with the goal to explain them. The same ones were defined by Joseph Campbell, specialist in compared mythology, as "elementary instruments to interpret the reality", and they represent the creations of the symbolic character that are used to solve the current dilemmas for each time, such as the fight for the material and symbolic subsistence of a town and protection of their integrity.
In this perspective, the myths of the pre-Christian pagan time are characteristic and common for several pre-Slavic tribes; the same ones describe the vision and the creation of the World. The biggest characters in Ukrainian myths are: the Svarog who, according to the pagans it is a powerful force of well and light, his son is Daybog (the god of the Sun, light, well-being). Furthermore, with a lot of attention it is related the Rod's facts - the Beginning of the Life, the god of the nature; Yarelo - the Sun of Spring, the love, the youth; Perun - the god of the rays; Strebog - the god of the nature elements, of war, of the calamities, Veil - the god of the "low world", frequently in the myths he appears like a snake-dragon; the Beregenia - people's protector, protects the children and home from evil, incarnate as a woman with the lifted arms; the Lada - it is the goddess of love, beauty and harmony of life. Besides, from the first centuries of the Christianity until the present time some literary works have arrived ("Povest ` Vremennej Let", "Slovo or Polku Igoreve") that present the history of the first Slavic state the Rus ` Kievita - of which the oriental Slavs arose - Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian. Apart from that, exists the legend of Cossacks, who maintained the moral precepts and the cultural traditions of their ancestors, among them the ideals of the companionship and fraternity, mutual help, life based on the moral and ethical principles of the Christianity. The mentality of the Cossacks reflects a wide range of the Ukrainian national values, such as the faith in God, love, homeland, earth, independence, own freedom, aspiration to the freedom of its homeland, justice.
On the other hand, those who disagree says that these stories were just fantasies that only make part of the imagination of a group of people that needed to get attention. They also argue the cultural dichotomy that today exists inside Ukraine, where the region western reflects European influences while in the oriental regions the impact of the Russian culture is evident and therefore they think that Ukraine doesn't have own identity.
To sum up, not only in Ukraine but also in all the countries of the world, the myths and legends are indispensable because they reflect the identity of each nation and even if exists mixtures of different towns, as I said before, each one has, in the root of their essence, their own identity that is captured in these stories. Series of legends like that of Saint Olga, Ana Yaroslavna, Kozak Mamai and Roksolana, (who used to take in the hands a long branch of the viburnum (“kalyna chervona”) that is the ornamental bush that symbolizes Ukraine), among other legends, they are source of patriotism and symbolism of the nascent Ukrainian culture.
