Spells and the Holy Tradition: On the Reception of the Biblical Heritage in the Verbal Magic of the Eastern Slavs

Abstract

The work examines several groups of predominantly Russian spells based on Holy Scripture images and events. The author investigates how these events and images get into the oral tradition, how they are assimilated into folklore, and what functions they perform in charms. The author relies on Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition and uses apocryphal writings, liturgics, prayers, sermons, and other sources. The material for the article is the charms of the oral tradition, selected from the database of East Slavic charms, numbering about 40 000 texts. The author considers four groups of charms from 10 to 100 texts. Each of them, in one way or another, goes back to events, images, and quotations from Sacred tradition concerning certain episodes of the Nativity of Christ. The article establishes that pragmatics determines the inclusion of these events and images in oral spells. Due to the appeal to sacred precedents, spells are formed in the tradition that successfully copes with the specific tasks of therapeutic, household, and social magic.

Keywords

• folklore of the eastern slavs
• charms
• sacred tradition
• spiritual poems
• legends