Stryamets N, Fontefrancesco M F, Mattalia G, Prakofjewa J, Pieroni A, Kalle R, Stryamets G, Sõukand R
Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino, 155, Venice, VE, Italy.
University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 9, 12042, Bra, Pollenzo, CN, Italy.
J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2021 Mar 4;17(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s13002-021-00439-y.
The use of plants in rituals is a little explored corner of biocultural diversity which has developed through time within a complex socio-ecological system. Indeed, rituals are complex interactions between humans and biodiversity shaped by history, culture, and ethnic belonging. Yet, in Western Ukraine, such rituals were forbidden for over 50 years (1939-1991). The current revival of rituals by rural inhabitants is an untapped reservoir of local ecological knowledge. The aim of the present study was to identify the ritual use of wild and cultivated plants in two regions of Western Ukraine, Bukovina and Roztochya, and to compare the findings with historical data. Moreover, we analyzed attitudes toward the ritual use of plants and interactions with the local environment.
We conducted 31 in-depth semi-structured interviews among Orthodox Hutsuls of Bukovina and 16 interviews among Greek Catholic rural inhabitants of Roztochya during summer 2018 focusing on the ritual uses of plants.
We documented 28 plant taxa among Bukovinian Hutsuls and 58 plant taxa among inhabitants in Roztochya that were used in 7 religious festivals (of which two were celebrated differently in the two communities). Plants were mainly used in bouquets, but also for decorating churches and houses or in fruit baskets. In both communities, almost 25% of the interviewees could not name the plants they collected for bouquets, but rather referred to "just beautiful green herbs" one can get in meadows, forests, and gardens. Comparison with historical data shows a smaller number of taxa currently used (wild taxa have been lost), yet the persistence of 18 taxa used both now and a century ago.
Contemporary practices concerning the use of plants in Christian rituals in Bukovina and Roztochya can be contextualized in the broader phenomenon of the revitalization of traditional environmental knowledge and practices that have characterized Europe over the past 30 years and in particular Eastern Europe after socialism. The current religious use of plants is to a certain extent the revitalization of historical rituals supported by various internal (knowledge from older generations) and external (church authorities and fashion in the region) drivers. Further research should address changes in regions with longer and more severe prohibition of religious practices and their revival.
在生物文化多样性中，植物在仪式中的使用是一个鲜有人探索的领域，它在一个复杂的社会生态系统中随着时间发展而来。事实上，仪式是人类与生物多样性之间由历史、文化和种族归属所塑造的复杂互动。然而，在乌克兰西部，此类仪式被禁止了50多年（1939年至1991年）。农村居民目前对仪式的复兴是当地生态知识的一个未开发宝库。本研究的目的是确定乌克兰西部布科维纳和罗兹托恰两个地区野生和栽培植物的仪式用途，并将研究结果与历史数据进行比较。此外，我们分析了对植物仪式用途的态度以及与当地环境的相互作用。
2018年夏季，我们对布科维纳的东正教胡祖尔人进行了31次深入的半结构化访谈，对罗兹托恰的希腊天主教农村居民进行了16次访谈，重点是植物的仪式用途。
我们记录了布科维纳胡祖尔人使用的28种植物分类群和罗兹托恰居民使用的58种植物分类群，这些植物用于7个宗教节日（其中两个节日在两个社区的庆祝方式不同）。植物主要用于制作花束，但也用于装饰教堂和房屋或放在果篮中。在两个社区中，近25%的受访者无法说出他们为制作花束而采集的植物名称，而是称之为可以在草地、森林和花园中找到的“只是漂亮的绿色草本植物”。与历史数据的比较显示，目前使用的分类群数量较少（野生分类群已经消失），但仍有18个分类群在现在和一个世纪前都被使用。
布科维纳和罗兹托恰基督教仪式中植物使用的当代实践可以置于过去30年欧洲尤其是社会主义之后东欧所特有的传统环境知识和实践复兴这一更广泛现象的背景中。目前植物在宗教中的使用在一定程度上是由各种内部（来自老一辈的知识）和外部（教会当局和该地区的时尚）驱动因素支持的历史仪式的复兴。进一步的研究应关注宗教仪式被更长时间、更严格禁止及其复兴地区的变化。
